


Tears of a Phoenix

by AstralBound



Category: Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 48,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24882832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstralBound/pseuds/AstralBound
Summary: Taken from his universe and thrown into a new one, Claude must discover himself and his powers as a half-blood Demon. From being found and trained by Kent Nelson, follow his adventures as he grows. From his arrival in this strange new universe to his inevitable adventures with Young Justice, how will Claude fair in this new world?(Originally posted on FFN)
Relationships: Zatanna Zatara/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue: How It All Began

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the DC Universe, only my Universe and Original Characters.**

**|Pandemonia, Underworld**

**|July 16, 2006, 13:03**

Deep in the center of the Underworld lies the capital of the Underworld, Pandemonia. Over the city, the skies shone a radiant blue under the false sun, which was set in place by the original 7 Princes of Hell. Although the sky shined so brightly, the atmosphere around was sullen. There was no motion in the streets of the capital city, children dared not step outside, and centers where most usually gathered were as dry as bone. All except for one place at the heart of the city, the Castle of the Princes.

The Castle of the Princes, a tall and dark medieval-styled fortress, stood apart compared to the most modernized city in the Underworld. Inside the Castle, 66 Demons sat in a gigantic room around an equal ginormous round table, with one person at the “head” of the table. That person was Arthur Lucifer, the current head of the House of Lucifer, a Prince of Hell, as well as the leader of the Demon society. He sat tall, with his blond hair rustling as if there was a breeze in the closed-off room and eyes as cold as ice, looking left to right around the table.

“We must not engage them in the mortal realm. It would be a death sentence for our people,” he said towards no one in particular.

“That is outrageous! We must attack them head-on while they are still gathering. Every moment wasted means the greater potential of us losing against their assault.” cried a man seated somewhere to the left Arthur.

That man, or rather demon, was Cassius Amon, a stocky, built man with cropped hair resembling the midnight sky while the moon was out, somewhat like a dark purple but almost black. He was the head of the House of Amon, another Prince of Hell. His maroon eyes were ablaze as he stared down Arthur.

“We cannot let that upstart Newborn Angel and his puny army scare us! He dares disrupt our treaty!?”

“Fret not Cassius, for they could not wish to beat us within our own domain. If we hold the defensive and the Gates of the Underworld, we will undoubtedly repel any assault.” replied another man.

This man was much like Cassius as he had a similarly built physique, if not greater. He donned a small ponytail behind his head, which kept his void, dark, hair back. His azure eyes bored in Cassius’ own almost as if challenging him to say otherwise. This imposing figure was simply known as Leon Leviathan, Head of House Leviathan, and as well another Prince of Hell.

“Enough of this in-fighting. Why not simply put this up for a vote? There _are_ 7 of us Princes after all.” said a man slouched in his chair.

This man had the appearance of what the mortals would stereotypically call the devil, with midnight black hair, crimson eyes, and the signature mustache, beard, and goatee to match.

Arthur once again spoke, “A grand idea Harold, although surprising coming from an Asmodeus of all people. We shall commence a vote then. All in favor of an assault, raise your hand.”

3 men raised their hands. The aforementioned Cassius Amon, along with 2 new peoples.

“Lords Amon, Beelzebub, and Mammon have voted for assault,” stated Arthur, “Now all those in favor of a defense?”

4 men now raised their hands. They included Arthur, Leon, Harold, as well as a new person.

“Lords Lucifer, Leviathan, Asmodeus, and Belphegor have voted in favor of a defence. Since no one has abstained, a defensive front has won by a majority. This settles today’s meeting. The Princes shall convene in 2 days from now and we shall have a grand assembly again a week from now. You are all dismissed.”

**|Mansion of the House of Phenex, Underworld.**

**|July 16, 2006, 13:47**

“Next question young master, when was the First Holy Demonic War?” asked Winston.

“Winston, as my personal butler, you should know that this question is too easy, but to answer your question it was during the 10th century,” I answered with a roll of my eyes.

“It may be easy for you but even young demons near your age still struggle with their basic history Master Claude,” Winston stated while staring at my amber eyes with those old yellow ones of his. 

“That may be, but you should know I am greater than the average young demon, you gray, old fart.”

With a sigh, he answered exasperatedly, “Yes, yes, must you remind me of my greying hairs, Master Claude? This should end our little history lesson for now. I believe your Father will return shortly from the assembly. Don’t you wish to greet him as he returns?”

“It’s already that late?” I said as I glanced at the clock, “We should be able to have a late lunch with Father then. Let’s get moving Winston. Can you prepare something quick and simple for us?”

“Why of course, Master Claude.”

With that, I rushed towards the southern wing to our main entrance. Hopefully, Father hasn’t eaten anything yet so we can share lunch. Flying through the halls, although not literally as Father said flying inside was hazardous, I sped and pushed the doors wide open. A little farther back I could see 2 people, a man with charcoal black hair much like mine accompanied by a slightly larger man with much darker hair.

“Father you’re back! And Lord Leviathan?” I exclaimed.

“Claude, what have I said about bursting through doors?” answered Father with a hard stare.

“Cut the kid some slack Remus, he is but 12 and excited to see his Father. And what have I said about calling me Lord? It is simply Leon, Claude. Our Houses are brothers in all but blood.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t burst through doors, hazard, blah, blah, blah. See even Lor- I mean Leon agrees with me, it's just fun after all.”

“Fine, let’s get inside then,” Father said after sighing.

“Cheer up Remus and Mini-Remus. Now it’s late and I didn’t eat much earlier, so let’s go munch up,” He said as he gave me and my Father big pats to our backs. I think I heard dad cough up but it could’ve been my imagination.

“Of course Lo- uh Leon, I already had Winston prepare something for me and Father, but I’m sure there’s enough for you too,” I said as I lead the way towards the Dining Hall.

Taking a quick glance behind me, I could see Father and Lord Leviathan whispering amongst themselves. I took the moment to look over my father. He had the previously mentioned charcoal hair which was currently styled to the side, as well as amber eyes much like mine. He was slim but fit and most would compare me to him, saying that I was just the miniature version of him.

Extending my arms out, I pushed open the doors to the dining room. At the opposite end of the room was where Winston stood, next to a long wooden table that stretched the length of the room. 

“Ah, Masters Remus, Claude, and Leon. A pleasure to see you all. I have taken the liberty of preparing a “quick and simple” meal for you all as Master Claude had asked. Although I do not know if there is enough for everyone as the arrival of Master Leon was unexpected. I will go and make some more but in the meantime, please enjoy.” Winston said as he walked out through a door behind him.

“Well would you look at that Remus, your butler is something else,” stated Leon, “He made a whole mountain of sandwiches”

“Yes, a classic indeed, let us indulge ourselves,” Father replied.

Soon we all sat, with Father taking the seat at the head of the table and Leon and I taking a seat to his side.

“How were your lessons so far today, son?” Father inquired.

“They were not too challenging, but our history was pretty easy if I do say so myself,” I said in between bites of my first sandwich.

Leon quirked an eye at this mid-chew and asked, “ Our history you say? Well, tell me what you know then kiddo. Let’s see how good you are.”

“Well, there was the…” I said and went on to explain the history of Demons. It wasn’t too hard but it started with the original 7 Princes of Hell, our ancestors, warring against God for control of the mortal realm. At the end of the 100 years that the war took place, God and the 7 Princes had died in the final battle leading to a truce to be signed between Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons. The children of the now-dead Princes rose to rule the Underworld, while the Archangels in Heaven stabilized the Heavens. “And that’s the end of it, well until now that is with the Second Holy Demonic War about to start and all.”

“A good brief summary, son. You are as smart as your mother.” Father replied.

My mother. She was not the wife of my father nor a demon, but a mortal. Father said her name was Lilith Cross, quite ironic with the history of the name and her last name being “Cross” but Father rarely talks about her. She died giving birth to me, a cruel fate, for a mortal to birth a demon, or rather a half-blood demon. No mortal would have the strength to live after that. Father described her as a queen amongst the mortal women, but my only memory of her was a glimpse of blond hair and lavender eyes from shortly after my birth. How I remember, I will never know but it’s all I have as Father never had a picture of her. He took me in after she died and brought me to the underworld, where he already had a wife and children, although his children were already a hundred or more years old. I have no disdain for my family though as even my new mother and sibling do not hate my guts, or well not completely anyway. With Father’s last comment, a moment of silence took place while we ate before Leon spoke up.

“Well then. How about we-”

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

Rubble fell from the ceiling as we all stood at attention.

“What was that!?” exclaimed Father.

Rushing in, Winston asked, “Is everyone alright? It seems like we are under attack and from what I have seen, they are Angels.”

“We’re fine,” answered Leon, “But how did Angels manage to breach the Underworld undetected?”

“We can worry about that later,” said Father, “We must reach safety first. From what I heard there were 4 explosions, one for each wing of the mansion. We need to go towards the Northern Wing. Immediately.”

“You don’t mean…” whispered Leon.

“Yes, the contingency, Leon. It is located in the Library. We must go. Winston accompany us, your services will be needed.”

“As you wish, Master Remus.”

“Wait, wait, wait, what do you mean contingency? What’s happening?” I asked.

“There is no time to explain, son. I will be able to explain once we reach our destination, but now we must fight our way there.”

“Listen to your dad, kiddo. Just keep up and watch. They’ll see why the House of Leviathan is not to be trifled with. And House Phenex too of course.”

With that, we rushed out of the dining hall. It would be a while until we got there but we weren’t that far since we were coming from the East Wing.

Nearing the intersection of the 4 halls, we prepared to turn right, that is before we were stopped. Coming from the Northern and Southern Wing, 6 Armored Angels stood in our path. Instinctually I shot a fireball from my hard which knocked one of them out the air. Not missing a beat, Father unleashed a wave of fire by slashing his hand through the air, knocking 2 more Angels to the ground. Leon being the muscled man he was, jumped high into the air, dodging a slash from an Angel, before roundhouse kicking them into the ground, creating a small crater. Walking to the 3 dazed Angels that Father and I had knocked down, he made quick work by knocking them each unconscious with swift punches to the forehead. 

“And that’s why you don’t mess with us on our home turf, you overweight chickens.” taunted Leon before he flew, with his bat-like Demon wings sprouting from his back, towards the next to Angels who were frozen in fear.

Before he could get to them though, Father had launched a torrent of flames from his palms at both Angels, knocking them out of the air and into unconsciousness, or maybe death but oh well.

“Yeah whatever showoff,” said Leon before he started towards the end of the Northern Wing

“And that is how we deal with our enemies at the House of Phenex, son. Now let’s go,” Father said before running off.

I could only stand and gape like a fish out of water after watching them in action.

“Onward Master Claude, we don’t have much time,” Winston reminded me.

With that, we both went forward towards the library. At the door of the library, Father and Leon waited for us to enter.

“Let’s go, we don’t know where the other Angel’s are or what their objective is, but before anything, we need to do this first,” said Father.

Opening the doors, Father and Leon walked in and toward the farthest corner of the library.

“Father, what are we doing here? Why are we in such a hurry?” I asked in a panic. I had already seen parts of my home destroyed, all in rubble as we moved towards the library.

“Long story short, the world as we know it won’t survive another War amongst the Angels and Demons. The balance is barely kept and once broken after the war, the earth will descend into chaos, destroying the mortal realm, and with it, the Heavens and the Underworld as both are tied to the mortal plane. The Angels under the new Archangel Justicar are too prideful to accept that fact. But with the knowledge Leon and I have prepared a way for one person to be sent off.”

In my shock, I said nothing, or rather I couldn’t say anything. Moving towards a bookshelf, Father pulled a random book that led to the bookshelf opening up like a door to a hidden room. Father and Leon quickly walked forward to a dimly lit room at the end of the stone hallway, with me and Winston following. In the center was a large magic circle unlike one I have ever seen before.

Finally finding my words, I ask, “What is this?”

“This is a teleportation circle unlike anything else, kiddo. It is meant to deliver to another dimension, another reality,” replied Leon.

“LEON!” yelled Father.

“What? He was gonna find out soon enough anyway.”

“Is that true, Father?”

“Yes, son. It is true. With this, I’m sending you away, to safety. You cannot stay in this world any longer and I want what is best for you. You must go, the rest of us will stay and finish this war, it is our duty.”

“I refuse. I’m staying with you… Dad.”

Walking over to a nearby table, Father grabbed a slim, unmarked, book.

“Listen, son, everything in this book will answer any questions you will have left.”

“But I-”

“No buts!” Father said while digging into his pocket and kneeling down to my level, “This necklace was your mother’s. I gifted it to her long ago, now it is yours.” Pulling out the dagger he had concealed under his coat, he said, “This dagger has been in our family for millennia, it is our family’s most treasured heirloom. Now it is yours.”

“Why are you giving me all of this, I won’t go, I refuse, I’m staying here with you Dad.”

With a sigh, he put both hands on my shoulders, “Remember son, a phoenix never dies. I love you. I’m sorry.”

With tears in my eyes, I asked, “What are you talking about, Dad? And why are you so-”

And everything went black.


	2. Prologue 2: A New World

**|Near Salem, Massachusetts**

**|July 17, 2006, 00:01 EDT**

Kent Nelson had had a long life so far, he had passed 100 years of age 2 years prior. He remembered when it all started, just 66 years ago in 1940, his acquiring of the Helmet of Fate and the joining of the Justice Society of America. But not even a decade went by before his little spitfire, Inza, convinced him there was so much more to life than heroism under Nabu. He took off the Helmet of Fate for the last time in 1945, continuing heroism but on his own terms using a similarly shaped helmet instead. Although, he hasn’t gone out in costume in quite a while after his spitfire passed on 43 years after.

He was alone now, only having himself and his tower left. He did have friends, the former JSA members who were now retired, except Red Tornado that is, for obvious reasons.

Speaking of old friends, Kent had been returning from Central City after visiting Jay Garrick, or the formerly known Flash. Meetups with old friends were few and far so Kent knew better than to pass it up, especially since they were all in their 90’s, with himself being 102. 

Currently, Kent was flying over the state of Massachusetts toward the Tower of Fate located in the town of Salem. Although not flying as Superman or Green Lantern might have, Kent was on a disc of light coming from the base of his cane. Well, he was that is before he stopped after sensing a sudden burst of chaotic energy. During the 5 years as Doctor Fate, he had absorbed knowledge and power from when he wore the Helmet of Fate. Although not as strong as he originally was, Kent was still a powerful magician. And of course, the once Lord of Order was able to feel and tell where that burst chaotic energy came from. It came from somewhere south of Salem, that’s for sure. And with that Kent flew off towards the source of the energy.

**|Boston, Massachusetts**

**|July 17, 2006, 00:18 EDT**

On the northern border of Boston City, Kent floated on his disc of light. With his eyes closed, Kent tried to close in on the chaotic energy, but it was getting ever so slightly harder as the energy had started dissipating. After a few minutes, he was able to lock onto the source of the energy. Finally opening his eyes, he saw that it originated somewhere at the very edge of the southern part of the city. From this height, he guessed it must have been some low-income area, one of the shadier parts of town.

He flew southbound towards where he had locked onto, coming right over a dark alley. He didn’t need to worry about people seeing him as the streets were empty as it was after midnight, but even if they did it wouldn’t matter. The people have seen aliens like Superman fly around the world, so what does it matter if they saw an old man? Lowering his platform of light to the ground he stepped off and looked down the alley. It wasn’t lit but he could see well enough under the moonlight. Near the end of the quite expansive alley were 2 cellar doors. Similar to cellar doors one might see next to a farmhouse farther south. 

Pulling the doors in an attempt led to nothing as they didn’t budge. No worry though, because after 2 quick taps with the bottom of his cane, he heard the clicking of the opening of the lock. Pulling the doors open, he stepped forward to see a small staircase lowering down to a basement level, he assumed. At the bottom of the stairs, he saw a hallway with doors lining the left side. He could feel the large supply of residual chaotic energy from where he stood and he could only assume it came from the door at the very end, where light spilled from underneath the door and from where he could hear murmuring. 

Arriving in front of the door, he readied himself to twist the handle and walk inside. There was only one way to find out the source after all.

**|Boston, Massachusetts**

**|July 17, 2006, 00:11 EDT**

I felt like crap. I could feel the cold hard floor underneath him. It was like concrete or maybe tile, but it was smooth. I haven’t felt this way since Lord Levi- uhm Leon threw me into his water cyclone for “endurance training” as he called it.

Mustering all the strength I could I opened my eyelids and sat up.

“Ah ha, the demon has awoken! Our ritual has worked brother and sisters!” said a masculine voice behind me.

Looking around I could see 6 people around me, all in red robes that obscured their face. I sat in what looked like a satanic star, which I could only assume was drawn in blood. Yuck.

With wide eyes, my memories struck me. I remembered it all now. Father coming home. Lunch. The attack. The magic ritual circle hidden in the library. My father’s last words to me. In that instant, I looked around and yelled, “Where the hell am I!”

Another voice spoke up, this time feminine, “Oh great demon, we have summoned you to our world so you may listen to our requests.”

“What do you mean your world? Where am I?”

“You are on Earth, where we, uh, mortals live.” chimed in a third voice.

“The mortal plane? Impossible…” I said in disbelief. That doesn’t make sense though. Why would Father send me to the mortal plane if he said it would be destroyed. Quickly remember Father, I patted the pockets of my overcoat. I felt the dagger in my pant’s pocket and the necklace and the book within the inner pocket of my overcoat. I sighed in relief.

“Impossible indeed, but clearly not as you are here now.” stated a new voice. This voice was much older and could not have come from the robbed figures, who I guessed was still young based on how their souls felt. Looking towards the door I saw an old man in a black three-piece suit. He had gray hair and dull blue eyes. By the feel of his soul, I could tell he was pretty old, for a mortal that is.

All 6 of the robed people yelled in surprise by the intrusion

“Who are you!? How did you get in here!?” exclaimed a fourth voice.

“I thought I told you to lock the door,” said voice 1.

“I did! I swear!” yelling yet another voice. Sigh, why are there so many robed people yet no one has said a single name?

“Well I’m sorry to ruin the fun but I must bind you all. A great sacrifice must’ve been made for you to summon this demon I can assume.” said the old man with a tap of cane.

Suddenly gold bonds wrapped around everyone in the room. 

“Okay I get chaining up these bozo cultists but come on, I don’t even know where I am,” I said exasperatedly.

“And who might you be? You look a little young to be in a demonic cult.”

“Yeah, funny thing… I kinda just popped up here and just woke up.”

“I came here tracking the source of a burst of chaotic energy, it seems it is you then.”

“You were able to sense my energy? I didn’t know mortals were able to do such a thing. Oh, and I’m Claude and I’m half-demon, half-mortal. Would the right term be demi-demon?”

“Is that so Claude? You don’t look like a Lord of Chaos or a witch boy, but I can’t let you go. Not until I find out more about our little predicament. I’ll call a friend to take care of our little ‘bozo cultist’ problem, but you’ll be coming with me,” He said before turning around towards the door, “The name’s Kent Nelson by the way.”

“Wait how am I supposed to go with you, kinda, you know, chained up and all that,” not a moment later he tapped his cane on the floor and I started floating off behind him, “Nevermind, that’s how.”

“That’s how indeed, now I’ll keep you chained up on the way to my tower. The sooner we sort this out, the sooner you can get unchained and on your merry way, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, just hurry up with it. I have things to do and figure out.”

“How about we speed things up for the both of us then? You can tell me all about what you know so far on the way to my tower, deal?”

“Sure, why not? And what’s this tower you keep talking about? Are you some evil wizard? I should probably be concerned with my safety right now. Especially since I don’t even know what’s going on and where I am.”

“Both of our questions will be answered soon. Now let’s get going,” and with that, he tapped his cane and a disc of light formed at our feet and carried us away. 

**|Tower of Fate, Salem, Massachusetts**

**|July 17, 2006, 00:38 EDT**

“So let me get this straight, you’re a 12-year-old demi-demon from a world where God fights Demons and your world is soon to be destroyed in a second war, so your father and his friend knock you out and send you through a magic circle?” He said as we landed in front of a large stone tower.

“Yup. And you’re an old sorcerer/magician whose world has aliens and other people walking around calling themselves ‘superheroes’ and ‘supervillains’? I don’t know whose world sounds crazier.” I said exasperated.

So far from what I sensed from his soul, he has no ill will towards me. Which reminds me, soul sense, a common ability all demons share, although mine is weaker since I’m partially mortal and all that.

“Hate to break it to you kid, but you’re in another dimension/universe. And before you ask, I can’t send you back. No one can really. Interdimensional travel would take up a vast amount of power, more power than anyone I know, and I know a lot of people, kid.”

Damn. I couldn’t return. Now I’m stuck. Stuck in a universe I know nothing about with no one I know. I was alone.

Noticing my dejected face, he let out a sigh. “Come on kid, let’s get inside. I’ll show you to a room and take off these bindings. You can stay the night and we can figure something out in the morning. Sound good?”

Looking up towards man, I felt a small spark of hope. With a nod of my head, he made the bindings disappear. We walked inside and for a moment I thought everything would be alright.

“Thanks, Mr. Nelson.”

“Don’t thank me yet, kid.”

**|Tower of Fate, Salem, Massachusetts**

**|July 17, 2006, 9:34 EDT**

I woke up, eyes still closed. Mustering up some energy, I opened my eyes to see a bedroom, the one Mr. Nelson gave me at night, or rather morning since it was 12 AM, before. The memories and the past 24 hours resurfaces once more. What is with me waking up in strange places with my memories hitting me like a truck? I hope it doesn’t become a trend.

Stepping out of bed, I noticed I was still in my clothes from the day before. The simple dark gray overcoat that Father had gifted me a year ago, khaki pants, and some black combat boots. Although, I didn’t wear the boots to sleep as they stood next to the door of the room. Father never understood why I liked them so much, but they were just comfortable. 

Looking to my left, I saw the book Father had given me, the dagger, and my mother’s necklace on the nightstand where I placed them the night before. I would need to read the book soon whenever everything has calmed down. I’d need a sheath of some sort for this dagger too, but for now, I put it in an outer pocket near where my hands were supposed to be. I stared for a moment, looking back towards the last item on the nightstand. I had always seen Father carry it around in his pocket, staring at it occasionally. I never knew he cared for mother still. It was similar to how Mr. Nelson would look at his pocket watch the night before. Putting on the necklace, I started walking away from the bed.

Putting on my boots, I walked out of the room, only to be met by a different hallway than the one I was at the night before. Strange. Probably magic since he’s an old sorcerer and all that. Trusting my gut, I started walking in a seemingly random direction. After a short while, I walked into what I could only assume as the kitchen.

Sitting at the kitchen island with food was Mr. Nelson.

“Ah, you’ve awoken. Took you long enough but I don’t blame you. It’s been a long night,” Mr. Nelson said, tilting his head over towards my direction. “I’ve taken the liberty of making something for us while we sort everything out. We were only able to explain so much during that short flight to my tower.”

“Uh thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Nelson,” I replied awkwardly while standing across from him.

“Oh, my dear Inza would never forgive me if I left a 12-year-old boy to the streets. Sit down, grab some food. You must be hungry after all. And enough of the Mr. Nelson stuff, call me Kent. No need to make me feel older than I already am.”

Putting some food on my plate, I asked, “Who’s Inza? And sure thing Mr- uh I mean Kent.”

“Inza was my late wife. She was the one who convinced me to put up my cape and enjoy life for what it has.”

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn-”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, kid. That was ages ago.”

“So wait, you used to be one of those heroes you were talking about?”

“Indeed, through the use of a magical artifact, I was Doctor Fate, one of the strongest beings in the universe. I suppose I should give you a crash course on this world’s history. Tell me, are you familiar with the geography of Earth?”

“I know enough of it. Winston, one of my family’s butlers, taught me in case I ever traveled to the mortal realm.”

“Great, that’ll make this a lot easier. In the 1940s, I, among others, formed a group of heroes called the Justice Society of America. We were superheroes who had great powers. That team consisted of the Flash, Green Lantern, Sandman, Wildcat, and me, Doctor Fate. The Flash of that time was a man who could travel at super speed. Green Lantern possessed a ring that could create green light constructs with his mind. Sandman used a gun of sleeping gas to sedate criminals. Wildcat was a boxing champion in his prime and due to being cursed, had 9 lives. And then there’s me, Doctor Fate. To be clear, I, myself, was not Doctor Fate but rather the Lord of Order, Nabu, who was stored in the Helmet of Fate was. He possessed my body in order to, well, keep order.”

“Wait you said Lord of Order now and yesterday, or last night, you said that I didn’t look like a Lord of Chaos. What are they?”

“Lords of Order and Chaos are exactly as they sound. Lords of Order keep order throughout the universe, while Lords of Chaos cause chaos. They are each other’s natural enemy. Although neither can exist in the mortal plane without an anchor, hence the Helmet of Fate.”

“Wait if the Helmet of Fate is super powerful and all that, how did you get it?”

“That is a story for another time. There’s still more to this story. After the Justice Society of America disbanded in 1951, there would still be superheroes and groups, but none as great. That is, until 2003, when the Justice League of America was founded by 7 heroes, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. Superman is a Kryptonian, a now-extinct alien species, who lives on Earth and has super-strength, super-speed, super-hearing, flight, heat-vision, and the list goes on. Batman is a normal human but is an expert in hand-to-hand combat, as well as having a number of nifty gadgets and the intelligence to back it all up. Do not underestimate him for being powerless. Wonder Woman is the demigod, warrior princess of the Amazons. She is well versed in combat and has super-strength and flight. She too has magical artifacts, like her Lasso of Truth, which compels any being to speak the truth if caught by it. Flash and Green Lantern are new people who have taken on the mantle but are more powerful than their predecessors. Aquaman is the King of Atlantis, being part Atlantean and mortal. He has great control over water as well as super-strength. Martian Manhunter is, as the name implies, a Martian, but not a manhunter. He originated from the planet Mars and can shapeshift, as well as read minds with his telepathy. These 7 aren’t the only members of the League though. In the last 3 years, many more have joined and I believe more shall join every year.”

After a moment of silence, I finally spoke up, “That was quite the information dump. Your world is so weird. Aliens and superhuman feats. But who am I to say, I’m a demi-demon after all. Also, you mentioned Amazon, as in the Greek Amazons?”

With a nod, he said, “Yes, the Greek Amazons have lived for millennia after being blessed by their gods on the island of Themyscira. They are immortal warriors who only die in combat. Now that you know a bit about this world, I think it would only be fair you tell me something about yourself.”

“Well you already know about my world and you can guess most of it probably since it’s textbook Christianity, but I’ll tell you about myself then. You already know my name but my full name is Claude Alexander Phenex. Father was the only one to say the whole thing, but that was when he was mad. I am a descendent of the Demon Phenex. I’m actually the first demi-demon in my family. Uhm, you already know I’m 12. I don’t really know what else to tell you Kent. I’ve just lived in the Underworld since my mother died giving birth to me. I guess I could tell you I’m adept at magic too but I think you already know that since you sensed me. But the House of Phenex is famous for our pyromancy, although Father has only taught me how to shoot fireballs. The only possessions I have are the clothes on my body and the few items Father gave me before sending me away.”

“Items you say? Maybe magical artifacts?”

“Not that I know of yet. But the answers might be in this book Father wrote for me.” I said after pulling out the slim book from my pocket.

“Hmm, the book does not seem magical in nature. What else were you given?”

Pulling out the dagger from my pocket and removing the necklace from my neck, I said, “All I have is this dagger Father said was a family heirloom and my mother’s necklace.”

Examining the objects, he said, “The necklace does not have any traces of magic, but that dagger does, large amounts of it. I’m sensing something else on that coat of yours too. I guess you’ll have the answers in this little book of yours, I won’t pry myself. I do have 2 things to say before we’re done though.”

“And that would be?” I asked inquisitively.

“After much thought over the night, I think it would be best if I kept you close by. Would you be willing to stay with me at the tower, while we figure out your situation? I could teach you what I know, prepare you for this world, and shelter you.”

I sat there shocked. My jaw may as well have dropped to the floor. “Are you serious? You’re willing to keep me? A complete stranger?”

“Well, that would be if you were to accept staying with a complete stranger. And not strangers anymore, we know each other for the most part, no?” he said with a smile.

“I accept!”

“Great, I’ll need to call in some favors to get you some documentation since you’re not of this world and all.”

“Wait you said 2 things, you’ve only asked one thing.”

“Ah yes, the second question. It is a simple one. Are you okay, kid?”

Having a perplexed look on my face, I said, “What do you mean okay? I think so.”

“Kid, you’re a 12-year-old who has just left his old world behind only to come to a new one where you know nothing about. Somewhere you don’t know a single person. You still may be in shock and it hasn’t hit you, but most people would’ve cried by now.”

“Well, I know you now, don’t I?”

He gave me a flat stare in response.

Sighing, I said, “I guess I haven’t been thinking about. I don’t want to anyway. Father always taught me to be strong. I’ll stay strong for him because he stood strong for me.”

Nodding, he stood up. “Let’s get started then, you’re staying with a world-class sorcerer after all. We aren’t slacking off now or ever.”

And with that, he walked off, with me following him into a new life, a new world.


	3. Prologue 3: Training

**|Tower of Fate, Salem, Massachusetts**

**|June 3, 2007, 8:00 EDT**

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

_SMACK!_

Turning in my bed away from my alarm clock, I opened my eyes. The sun was in my eyes, making me squint and shuffle to face away. It was a Sunday, with school ending the day before. School. What a weird thing. I had never attended a public school before last year. Winston had always served as my private teacher but Kent had insisted I enroll in the local public high school after he had acquired documentation for me. He had to pull a few strings but it didn’t take long until his friend got it done. Who might this friend be, you ask? It was the freaking Batman.

Although our meeting was short, with Kent filling Batman in before he arrived at the Tower of Fate, it was more than enough for me. Batman really was a scary guy. And that’s coming from someone who grew up in the Underworld.

My legal name was now Claude “Alexander” Cross, with me taking my mother’s last name instead. Since I didn’t have any parents or guardians in this universe, I became the legal ward of Kent Nelson. Living in the Tower of Fate wasn’t too bad, except for the dozens of times I got lost in the beginning, but now I’m all sorted out. Well, mostly anyway.

_KNOCK! KNOCK!_

Through the door, Kent yelled, “Rise and shine, kid. Just because school’s out, doesn’t mean learning with me stops too. If we finish my beginner lessons today, maybe we’ll talk about that vacation you’ve been going on about. Now meet me in the kitchen for some grub.”

Groaning, I slipped out of bed. That vacation wouldn’t be too bad though. Who knew 7th grade was so tough. 

Slipping out of my pajamas (so what, they’re comfortable, sue me), I grabbed a plain gray t-shirt and a pair of khaki jeans. After quickly getting dressed, I slipped on some socks and slid into a pair of gray combat boots Kent had gotten me a while back. Looking back, I only need to grab my dagger, necklace, and overcoat. 

It turned out Kent was right about the dagger and coat, they were both magical. When reading over the book Father had given me before sending me away, he noted that the coat he had given me for my 11th birthday was impervious to heat and fire as it was magically crafted with phoenix feathers (all safely gathered instead of plucked of course). The coat was kind of redundant due to most demons already possessing a high heat tolerance due to living in the Underworld, and even more so considering descendants of Phenex were practically immune to the effects of fire at birth and could absorb fire. I’ve never fully tested out the immune to fire part completely but I have taken and absorbed fireballs to the face from Father’s training. The coat also possessed a slight magical and physical resistance, which offered a little protection, which was always a plus. 

According to what Father had written about the dagger, it was simply called the ‘Feather of Phenex’ as it was supposedly forged from one of the original Phenex’s feathers. It was an ornate dagger in appearance with a crimson, leather-wrapped handle and a golden guard with a winged design. It was like the blade had sprouted slim wings for the guard. What made it magical was that it was a catalyst for our family’s power. Any descendent of Phenex who wielded the dagger would have amplified flames. A note left by Father suggested that if I were to train, I should do it without the dagger so I could become naturally stronger and fend for myself if I could not access the dagger. It was something I did often when Kent had started training me with the basics. 

Quickly slipping on my mother’s necklace, I sheathed my dagger in its own spot on my belt and grabbed my coat. The sheathe was something Kent had gotten me a short time after I had first arrived. He said something along the lines of, “You’re asking to get stabbed by carrying that thing in your coat pocket” and then went off to grab it. 

With everything done, I was ready to start the day. After leaving the room, I jogged towards the kitchen. Kent, who was waiting at the kitchen island as usual, said, “Well, isn’t someone excited.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? You said I’d be done with basics today and we’d talk about that vacation. I can finally get rid of that ‘Pyromancy for Dummies’ book that you made me read,” I said as I sat down.

With a laugh, he said, “Well I may admit your pyromancy is advanced, you’ll never know if you might learn something new.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever old man,” I said dismissively as I ate the cereal he had already prepared for me.

“Need I remind you that you’re learning from that old man, kid? Anyway, head to the training room when you’re done. Your final basics lesson will be a test, although not like the ones you’re used to.”

With that, he started walking off, leaving me to finish my cereal. 

* * *

Arriving at the training room, Kent was already standing in the middle waiting for me. The training room was one of the many rooms that somehow fit within the Tower of Fate. It was square-shaped and had fluorescent light atop the entire room, which stretched the length of half a football field. The walls and floor blended into each other due to both being made of what looked to be smooth concrete. Behind Kent were 6 training dummies, standing shoulder to shoulder, in a line.

“Done so quickly? You usually take your time with breakfast,” he said with a raised brow.

“Let’s just get this over with. What’s up with these training dummies? They for the test?” I said standing at the front of the room.

“Very perceptive of you. The test will be simple. You must defeat all of the training dummies, each of which has been imbued with a little magic. BUT, you can only defeat a dummy by answering one of my questions correctly, which means you must stand around hopelessly, dodging, and protecting yourself until you answer. Oh and before you even think about it, you can’t fly for this test,” he said with a cheeky grin.

Damn, he knew me too well.

“Alright, let’s get this party started then.”

Walking to the edge of the training room, Kent yelled, “Begin!” which prompted the dummies to start advancing toward me. A moment passed before he asked, “What is the first of the 3 basic classifications for magic users?”

Summoning a magic circle in front of me, I created a barrier blocking small blasts of magic sent by the dummies. Immediately after, I answered, “The first basic classification would be magicians, the blanket term for all practitioners of magic.”

Not wasting a second, I dispersed my magic circle before firing a fireball at one of the dummies, destroying it, and then ran past a few others. Stopping and using my moment of safety as the dummies slowly turned towards my new position, I raised a new barrier.

“Hmm, impressive. Quick thinking with the barrier,” Kent said as he observed my magic circle. My magic circle was a simple one as it was the one used by the descendants of Phenex. It was a red circle (obviously) with 4 circles within and a single band of runes at the edge. The first of the 4 circles was in the center with an emblem of a phoenix, while the last 3 surrounded the first in a triangular pattern. Each of the 3 circles had a different rune in the center. “Next question, what is the second of the 3 basic classifications for magic users?”

I jumped backward as a few had almost gotten into physical striking range, before answering, “The second classification is sorcerers, or magicians who use magical artifacts to enhance their powers and reduce the risks of using magic.” 

Summoning a whip made of flames, I flicked the whip around the body of a dummy who had come too close before throwing it towards a wall, breaking it into pieces. Instead of running and creating a new barrier, I opted to just run and dodge past the magic blast. 

“Good use of the whip, taking advantage of your opponent’s position, despite it being a little dumb. Third question, what is the third basic classifications for magic users?”

Weaving past a few magical blasts, I answered, “The third classification is magic bloods, or magicians who have been born or imbued with the blood of magical beings.”

Still running, I sent a vertical wave of fire with a slash of my hand towards the closest dummy. Keeping up the pace, I ran zig zags and circles around the remaining 3 dummies.

“Seems like these dummies are a little too easy. How about we make it a little more difficult?” he said with a grin. 

Suddenly, the remaining 3 dummies started running instead of going at their previous walking speed. Not only were they running, but they were firing bigger blasts of magic. One of them even managed to catch up to me and swing its arm, but I quickly dodged before taking a quick turn.

“Next question please!” I yelled as I dodged more and more.

With a laugh, he asked, “What are the necessities to use magic?”

Rolling to dodge a pair of blasts, I answered, “Magic requires a sacrifice unless it is imbued or inherited,” before dodging another magic blast, only to be struck in the back by the dummy that had been tailing me. Sliding on the ground on my side, I let out a grunt only to get back up again and continue. “It also requires mana to cast, or as you fancy schmancy modern magicians call it, energy.”

Jumping over the swing of a dummy, I stepped onto its shoulder and used it as a launchpad to jump further away from a blast. Landing, I finished with, “And finally, you need a strong will over reality.”

With the question finally answered, I coated my fist in flames before punching it in the head. The punch sent the head flying off into a wall before shattering. Using that moment, I took a deep breath before continuing running.

With a satisfied nod, Kent said, “Not a question, but finish my quote, ‘Magic is like a…’”

Summoning another barrier, I took the moment to try to control my breathing. These dummies were definitely on something. They had caught up, but had stayed at a distance as they bombarded my barrier with more blasts. I couldn’t hold it for long, but it would be long enough to finish the quote.

“Magic is like a muscle. You must exercise it regularly if you want it to grow,” I said before dropping the barrier and chucking a ball of chaotic magic at one of the dummies. After watching it get hit, I started to run around again. This time I didn’t distance myself too far from the final dummy, but rather dancing left and right in front of it. These dummies were annoying and were getting on my nerves, if only slightly.

“Ah so you do listen to me when I give my lessons,” he said as he chuckled. “Final question, it won’t be from anything I’ve taught you, but it’s from the book your father gave you. Thank you for letting me read it by the way. The question is simply, what emotion is your fire based on?”

“Easiest question today. It’s anger,” I said as I side-kicked out in front of me, sending a torrent of fire at the dummy. By the time I was done, the only thing left was a glob of red, hot metal on the floor.

“Well done, kid. I admit I was going easy in the beginning, but the latter half was quite the challenge wasn’t it?” 

“Yeah, whatever, it was just a warmup.” I joked.

Chuckling, he said, “Now, about that vacation. How would you feel about going to New York?”

**|Shadowcrest, New York, New York**

**|June 3, 2007, 9:26 EDT**

“Welcome to the mystical mansion of the Zatara family, Shadowcrest,” Kent said as we appeared in front of the said mansion. 

After my test, Kent didn’t tell me why but he told me to pack my entire closet after handing me a large suitcase, which I had assumed was magical (which it was). It took me about an hour in all to get everything into the suitcase. Kent had been very adamant about me having a variety of clothes after I wore the same thing for the first month of my stay. 

Once I was done packing he pulled me into the living room and said, “This would be a good time to practice your teleportation spell that you’ve been using to get back from school, but over a longer distance this time. It’ll be faster than going by plane, wouldn’t you agree?” After saying that, he instructed me to take his hand so he could act as a guide of sorts for our teleportation since I really didn’t know where we were teleporting to. After a quick magic circle and a little bit of thought, we ended up in front of the mansion.

Which leads us to this moment now.

“Is this why you wanted to take me to New York? To meet Zatara?” I asked while raising a brow towards him.

Stepping forward towards the door, he said, “Well this is partly why, but not the entire reason. I’ll explain when we get inside.” With that, he knocked on the door.

Opening the door was a tall man in a suit, bowtie, and tophat, who I easily recognized as Zatara. He had black hair sticking from under his tophat and emerald looking eyes. He was easily 6 feet tall, with my head at where his chest was. I never had it measured but Kent said I could pass as 5’7’’ something that was above average for mortal 13 -year-olds, Kent said. It was probably my demon genes, but back to the point. I was surprised that he even fit through the door with his hat on.

With open arms, Zatara went on to say, “Ah, Kent, I’ve been expecting you. It has been a long time since we last met. I was very surprised by your proposition. Oh, and this must be the student you spoke of. Claude, was it? Welcome to my humble abode.” 

“Don’t make me feel older than I already am, Giovanni. Introduce yourself, kid,” said Kent as he nudged me.

“Uh yes, my name is Claude Phenex. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Zatara,” I said nervously. It wasn’t every day you meet one of the members of the Justice League after all.

“Just Zatara. ‘Mr.’ makes me feel as old as our friend over here,” joked Zatara. Stepping back, he motioned us forward. “Now, come in, come in. I officially welcome you to Shadowcrest.”

Stepping in, we were met with a long, expansive, white hall lined with painting and doors of gold. The hall seemed to go on forever, which was a lot longer than from what it looked like from outside. The air in the mansion felt similar to that of the Tower of Fate. It probably had to do with its mysticality and all that.

Guiding us to what I could only assume was the living room, he sat down in the middle of one of the two long couches that were facing each other. Kent and I followed suit, taking a seat ourselves. I ended up rolling my suitcase to the side of the couch for the moment.

“So, does he know of the plans?” Zatara asked Kent.

“Wait, what plans?” I asked, raising a brow towards Kent.

“Ah, so I’ll take that as a no.”

With a sigh, Kent said, “I was actually planning to tell here, or rather now. Claude, this trip to New York isn’t entirely for you to relax. I can guess you want to be a hero whenever you’re old enough right?”

Nodding, I said, “Well it’s only logical. My mentor is an ex-superhero, who’s now training me in magic. I mean, what else am I gonna use my magic for? Street magic?”

Chuckling, he continued, “Well, you may be good in magic, but you must be physically adept as well. Hence why I’ve taken you to New York. I’m sure you remember Wildcat of the Justice Society, but after he retired he opened up a gym here in New York. After a little convincing, he has agreed to train you. I’ve planned it so you will train with Ted in New York for the entirety of the summer before returning to the Tower to start school again in September. I won’t be staying with you but I have arranged for you to stay with Zatara, under the condition that he could evaluate you. You will be training or studying with either Wildcat or Zatara every other day, except weekends.”

I stared blankly at Kent for a good moment while everything was registering in my head. 

“Wait, I’m spending my entire summer training!? With Wildcat and Zatara too!?” I said excitedly. A chance to train with a world-famous fighter and magician? Who in their right mind would turn that down?

Letting out a chuckle himself, Zatara said, “Yes, I agreed to Kent’s proposal to see what you can do. It’s not every day you can study the magic of an interdimensional demon, or demi-demon in your case. It also won’t hurt having another student around here.”

Right as I was about to question Zatara about his other student, a knock came at the door. Walking in was a younger girl dressed in a black skirt, a white shirt, and a deep navy blue cardigan. They were a few inches shorter than me and had similar hair to Zatara, but what stood out most was her eyes. They were light blue, as blue as the sky on a sunny day.

“You called for me, Dad?” she asked, stepping into the room.

With a smile, Zatara said, “Right on time. Have a seat and meet our guests, Kent Nelson, although you already know him, and his student, Claude Phenex. He will be staying with us for the next 3 months,” Turning towards me, he went on to say, “Claude, this is my daughter, Zatanna. If what I’ve heard from Kent is true, she is actually 2 years younger than you, but I can assure there is much you can probably learn from her as well.”

“How about you 2 get acquainted, while Zatara and I finish up our business?” said Kent.

“Yes, why don’t you show Claude around the mansion? It would be best for him to familiarize himself quickly,” added Zatara.

With that Zatanna, led me out into the hall while I awkwardly followed. Once in the hall, we started walking and I said, “So… Zatanna was it? Is this place anything like the Tower of Fate?”

Looking at me inquisitively, she said, “I’ve never been to the Tower of Fate. I wouldn’t know their similarities.”

“Oh, well the Tower of Fate is pretty small but tall from the outside, but inside, it’s almost like the space goes on infinitely,” I clarified.

“Hmm, I guess the mansion is kinda like that. It’s definitely bigger on the inside than on the outside,” she said before asking, “So how’d you become Kent Nelson’s student, anyway?”

Scratching the back of my head, I let out a chuckle before saying, “Long story short, I’m a demi-demon from another universe who basically got sent through an interdimensional portal, before being found and taken in by Kent. He found me almost a year ago. Exactly a year in 14 days actually.”

Letting out a satisfied hum, she continued with, “So you’ll be staying here for the summer? Dad has never taken another student after Batman.”

“Well, I’ll be training with your dad every other day. I actually just found out right before you came in. Also, you don’t seem put off by me being from another universe,” I said before realizing something. “Wait, your dad trained Batman?”

“Yeah, but it’s supposed to be a secret, so don’t tell anyone. I’m sure you’re trustworthy enough since my dad agreed to train you. And an interdimensional traveler isn’t too surprising considering superpowered people and aliens running around, and that not even touching all the magical things.” 

“So…” I began, trying to keep up the conversation, “how about 20 questions to get to know each other? We’ll be seeing a lot of each other now that I’m staying here.”

Raising a brow towards me, she replied, “Sure, why not?”

“I’ll start us off then. What’s your favorite color? I personally like red. My family was known for its pyromancy, so I’ve just picked up on red. It was on almost everything we owned back at home,” I said while reminiscing for a moment.

“I like purple, or more specifically lavender. No reason behind it really, it just looks nice,” she answered before asking, “What was it like back in your universe?”

“I spent most of my life in the Underworld, as my dad was a demon, the current head of the House of the demon Phenex, and my mother was a mortal. She died while giving birth to me. From what Father told me, the mortal realm was very similar to this universe’s. The underworld’s capital, Pandemonia, was also quite similar to the cities up here. It was modern, with office buildings, plazas, and such. We even had a blue sky and sun, but the sun wasn’t real, just an imitation.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. If it’s any consolation, my mother died while giving birth to me too.”

After an awkward pause, we had ended up in front of double doors. Pushing open the doors, she said, “Welcome to our library, the largest collection of books regarding magic in the world.”

Looking around the grand room, I simply stared in awe. After a moment, I said, “And I thought the library in the Tower of Fate was big.”

“Come on, we still have more rooms to see,” she said before walking out.

* * *

“Ah, so you children have finished,” Zatara said as we walked by into the living room.

We had just finished our tour and game of 20 questions, arriving in the living. It was quite insightful on both our parts. I’m hoping for another chance to talk again. I didn’t have many friends near my age after all.

“I’ve shown him all the necessities around the house, Dad. I didn’t show him to a bedroom though since I didn’t know which one he’d be staying in,” Zatanna replied.

“That’ll be enough for today. Kent and Claude here have business to attend to elsewhere,” Zatarra said.

After I turned to look at Kent, he said, “We’re going to the Wildcat Gym. I’ll be introducing you 2 before I leave. Oh, and did I mention that you start your training with him tomorrow?”

I gave him a flat stare since he knew full well that he didn’t.

“Well, say goodbye for now, kid. Don’t worry though, we’ll be back for dinner and I’ll be leaving after.”

Getting up and walking towards the door, Kent said his goodbyes, leaving me to follow after him.

“Uhm thanks for your hospitality Zatara and see you later Zatanna,” I squeaked out awkwardly before running off towards Kent.

* * *

**|Wildcat Gym, New York, New York**

**|June 3, 2007, 10:43 EDT**

Arriving at the front doors of Wildcat Gym, I had to admit, it wasn’t as grand as I thought it would be. It was simply a large, above average gym, not some grandiose mega-gym I thought a retired superhero might have.

As Kent and I walked in, we saw Ted Grant in the middle of the ring with another person. Looking at Ted, he didn’t look different from the picture Kent had shown me from about 30 years ago. He had the same black hair that was graying at the sides and looked just about the same as he did in his prime, at around 6 feet, maybe even over. Kent said this had to do with his decelerated aging due to the process that gave him 9 lives.

Ted knocked the guy in the ring to the ground before saying, “Better luck next time, Joe.”

Clapping, Kent interrupted and said, “Bravo. Still as great as ever, Ted.”

“Look who’s here. The great Kent Nelson himself,” he said as he walked over to us and continued, “And you must be the kid Kent’s been going on about. Call me Ted.”

He stood in front of us before sticking his hand out to me. Shaking it, I nervously replied, “Uhm, Claude Phenex. My name’s Claude Phenex. A pleasure to meet you.”

Letting out a hardy laugh, he said, “You never said the kid was a nervous wreck, Kent. Whatever though, he won’t be by the time I’m done with him.”

“He usually isn’t but you can’t blame him? He’s standing in front of one of the greatest fighters in the world,” Kent said after chuckling himself.

“Damn straight, kid. I know Capoeira, Hapkido, Kickboxing, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, and Taekwondo. I used to be quite the world-famous boxer, but I’m sure you already know that,” said Ted as he jokingly puffed up his chest.

Turning towards me, Kent said, “Not only will he be teaching you how to fight, but he will also be teaching you proper fitness and crime-fighting techniques.”

“Yeah, yeah, quit blabbing. I want to see what I have to work with first. Let’s get into the ring and see what you’ve got, kiddo,” he said while heading towards the ring.

Under my breath, I said, “Not much…” but it seemed like he heard it and let out another laugh.

“Don’t worry, kiddo. I won’t rough you up too much,” he said from within the ring.

Sighing, I climbed into the ring and got into a stance after Ted did. He looked at me expectantly so I assumed he wanted me to strike first.

I started out with a simple punch, but he dodged as I thought he would, before returning with a swift punch of his own. I sidestepped, only to be met with the cold hard ground of the ring as he kicked my feet from under me.

He looked down at me before saying, “Your stance is off, I can tell you never had any real training, but not bad for a newbie. Your reflexes and speed are faster than what I would’ve expected from a 13-year-old boy. Looks like you can take a beating too.”

Still laying on the floor, I replied with, “Demons are faster and stronger than the average person, but not enough for it to be considered super strength or speed. And from what my father said, Demons have thick skin. Yay for me demon half.”

“This is gonna be a while, isn’t it?” I asked as I got up.

The only response I got was a nod and a grin.

**|Shadowcrest, New York, New York**

**|June 3, 2007, 17:32 EDT**

Kent had decided it would be best if we took a cab back instead of walking. We had spent about 6 hours at the gym, with Ted laying ground rules, workouts, a little bit of evaluating, and then some observing. All in all, not so bad, but I’d be in for some muscle pain in the morning.

After arriving at Shadowcrest, with Zatanna answering the door and guiding us to the dining room, we start dinner. Dinner consisted of a simple plate of spaghetti, which didn’t look like much, but smelled divine.

“Gosh, I can barely even lift my fork,” I said with a groan while we ate. 

The other’s started laughing, if only slightly. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up at my expense.”

“Look at the brightside,” said Kent, “by this time next year, you’ll be fully accustomed to it.”

Zatara chimed in saying, “By next year, you will have learned much. Just give it some time to get used to it.”

Zatanna gave me a reassuring nod before I said, “This is gonna be long three months.”


	4. Prologue 4: Patrol Shenanigans

**|Shadowcrest, New York, New York**

**|August 31, 2008, 14:04 EDT**

Another year had passed and I was another year older. I was 14 now, with my birthday passing in March. Last summer, Kent had dropped me off for my training with Wildcat and Zatara, and during those 3 months, I learned quite a bit. With the help of Ted, I had developed my own unique fighting style. It was a blend of everything Ted had taught me but was mostly centered around kickboxing and krav maga. I could now last longer than 2 seconds against Ted, now closer to about 10 minutes. 

I had also made some advancements in my magic under Zatara. He had tried to teach me logomancy, or backwards magic, but it seemed like I couldn’t quite grasp it, or at least grasp this world’s version of it. The year prior with Kent had taught me how much my magic differed from this world’s. It was not as restrictive since I had been born with it, but the principles of magic that Kent had taught somewhat applied. With his help, I was able to properly channel my magic, which Kent said was chaotic in origin despite being extraterrestrial. With that knowledge, Zatara had instructed me on how I could use my magic to create my own version of logomancy, like an imitation of sorts. He said I needed to convey a strong will through my words so they would better affect reality and to be extremely careful as the smallest mistake could create catastrophic results. 

At first, it was pretty difficult but after some time with Zatara I got a few things down. I could now create a full force field like barrier instead of my small barrier that consisted of my magic circle. Zatara had taught me the levitation spell as well as a few elemental spells that included lighting and water. He also taught me a healing spell but it took tremendous amounts of energy and effort. After some evaluation, it seemed like it was harder for my chaotic magic to heal since it is naturally destructive. 

Kent and I had further researched the capabilities of my magic after I returned for the school year. In those 9 months, we tested what else I could do with my magic, but I was mainly interested in expanding my pyromancy. After learning about rockets and other space-traveling vehicles, I was inspired to try jet propulsion, with and without my wings. 

Turns out I can fly as fast as a commercial plane with my wings and fire blasting from my hands and feet. I had also realized I could absorb fire after I put my hand on the stove after I wasn’t paying attention. Long story short, Kent had taken a pan off from the stove and I put my hand down to lean on something after a long day of practice. He had freaked when he saw before calming down remembering my heat resistance. My body was subconsciously absorbing the fire, which was honestly pretty refreshing. I also learned one new thing about my magical fire, I could control its temperature to a certain degree. It was possible for me to throw room temperature fireballs that didn’t have heat to them but still burned. Quite the neat party trick.

That leads us to now, at the very end of summer once again. After last summer, Zatara had invited me back for the next year (this year), to teach something else. He didn’t say what but once I had returned he explained it was the art of escaping, or escapology. I had been learning from him 5 days a week when he was free. I also went to train with Ted on weekends when I was free. It was basically 24/7 training, but it would be worth it after I finished this final test Zatara had set up for me.

What test, you might ask? Well, currently I was wearing a wetsuit and standing chained in a clear trunk, that was also placed in a large clear tank. I had 12 locks chained around my body, one on my neck, three around my arms and torso, two around my wrists, one on my waist, two around my legs, two around my feet, and one final lock that connected the chain to the trunk. Oh, and to top it off the trunk was gonna be locked with me in it. Did it mention that I’d also be submerged in water the entire time?

“Everything is prepared, Claude. Are you prepared to conquer my final test?” said Zatara, looking quite impressed with himself. He had his hands on his hips and a satisfied smile.

“Let’s just get this over with. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” I said looking towards Zatanna.

Zatanna was also in the room besides Zatara, looking quite worried. 

Letting out a grin, I playfully said, “Don’t worry about me, Zee. I’ll be done in 6 minutes tops.”

Zatanna didn’t reply, rather she rolled her eyes at me. I could swear I saw the slightest hint of a smile.

“Good, then we shall begin. Remember the rules, no magic, you must unlock all the locks before unlocking the trunk, and you start only when the trunk is filled to the top with water. Now duck down and close the trunk, it’ll lock on its own,” said Zatara.

Laying into a fetal-like position, I used both of my hands to pull down the top before waiting for the water to start filling the tank and trunk. Soon, I could see water pouring around the outside of the trunk through its clear walls. The water eventually reached between the lower portion of the trunk and the top, filling the trunk with water. With a final deep inhale, the water completely filled the trunk. I could hold my breath for around 5 minutes after my training with Zatara. He also taught me to pick locks, which would take around 10 seconds per lock. That means it would take around 2 minutes at the least for me to escape the locks and chain before I could attempt the lock on the trunk. Starting at the locks at my hands, I slowly pulled out a pick and a tension tool. Keeping count in my head, 23 seconds had passed before the pair of locks were unlocked. After those, I worked on the ones restraining my arms and torse. 55 seconds and they were off. Next, the one around my neck. 64 seconds and done. Now, starting from the waist down, I quickly picked each lock, all the way to the final one, leaving me at 132 seconds. 12 seconds past perfect but it would work. 

Now I had 3 minutes to figure out this trunk lock. Zatara had briefly mentioned that it was different from normal ones. It also didn’t help that the area around the lock was not clear like the rest of the trunk, blocking its mechanism from sight. I spent a whole minute just feeling around with my pick to familiarize myself with the lock. After 60 seconds, I forced myself to start working. I had 2 minutes left of breath at the least, but I could already feel the smallest of burns in my lungs. Attempting what I had thought was the way to unlock the lock, I ended up stumped as it didn’t work. I had burned past another minute doing that, leaving me with at least 60 seconds left. Feeling around the lock once more, I felt something I had missed. It was small, a simple pin the furthest part of the lock. I attempted the lock again, with at least 45 seconds left. The burning in my lungs was more noticeable, I was slightly panicking and losing focus, and my eyes were straining. It took me 30 seconds to get halfway through the lock. I still needed more time. Reaching the end of the lock and unlocking it, my lungs were almost on fire, as I spent 20 seconds rushing through the end. 

I pushed the top of the trunk upwards and swam to the top of the tank. It took me 13 seconds longer than I planned, but I had finished.

Exploding through the surface of the water, I took a deep, deep breath, finally relieving my lungs. I swam to the edge of the tank, hanging my arms off the edge, still in the water and looking down.

“Bravo, bravo,” Zatara said as he clapped his hands. “You were cutting it close, I could tell by the rush, but you have passed my test.”

Zatanna had let out a huge sigh of relief before saying, “Took you long enough, hothead.”

“Yeah, like you could do better, short stuff,” I said with a playful grin.

“Now, now, children. Could you leave us for a moment and fetch some towels for Claude, Zatanna?” Zatanna asked, looking towards his daughter.

With a nod, she stepped out of the room to grab some towels.

“What did you want to talk about? I know either of you could have just magically dried me,” I said while raising a brow.

Zatara let out a chuckle before taking on a serious face and asking, “Do you know I have only had one student before you? Besides my daughter that is.”

I had taken a straight face as well and answered, “Yeah, Zatanna might have let it slip. It was Batman, right?”

“Indeed, it was Batman, but keep that a secret,” he said before asking another question, “Do you know why I chose you as a student?”

I simply shook my head no.

“At first, I simply agreed to teach you magic as a favor to Kent, but once I saw you train, I recognized something in you, something deep. A great will to learn, to protect, and pain. You masked it well, not really showing deep and true emotions, but I saw it. It was something I could not deny. Just as I could not deny Batman. So I taught you escapology, something I have taught no other except for you, and Batman.”

I could only stare at him in my state of shock.

He turned towards the door before looking back at me and saying, “I believe you will do great things in this world, even if it is not your own. And call me Giovanni from now on. We are more of friends now, wouldn’t you say?”

I didn’t so much as nod, still staring at him with wide eyes.

With that, he left the room right as Zatanna had returned with some towels.

Standing below, she said, “Are you okay? You’re gaping like a fish. What happened while I was gone?”

Shaking my head quickly, I climbed out. Dropping onto the floor, I answered, “I’m fine and nothing happened. Thanks for the towels.”

I grabbed the towels before ruffling her hair. She quickly stepped back and smacked my hand, but all I did was grin and dry myself.

“Ugh, you’re getting my hair all wet.”

“You know you like it,” I said, maintaining the grin.

We had bonded over the last year. I sometimes came during the weekends when school was still in session and I’d take her with me to see Ted. Her dad was really overprotective, so I was kinda her only escape. Although, she did say she started sneaking out to see school friends. She also helped me with my magic a bit the summer before and I gave her pointers in fighting in return. It was nice since we both didn’t have many real friends outside of school. Real friends as in friends in the superhero world anyway.

Speaking of bonding, I had fully divulged my past to Kent, Zatara, Zatanna, and Ted. I liked to think of them as my new family. They knew just about every little detail. I had even let Zatara make a copy of the book Father gave me to add to the library. Kent was also the closest thing I had to a dad in this world. I wouldn’t call him dad anytime soon. Maybe Pops since he was so old.

Shaking my head from thought, I asked, “Wanna dip with me after I shower and pack? I’m going to Ted’s before I go back to the tower. It’s my last day after all.”

Zatanna jokingly put on a face of contemplation, saying, “Hmm, I don’t know. There’s a lot to do around here...”

Activating the pleading eyes, she finally relented and stopped her act.

“Fine, but hurry up so we can go,” she said with a playful punch to my shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, princess,” I said with a roll of my eyes before leaving the room.

If I had spared a moment to look behind, I might’ve seen the smallest hint of a blush on her face.

* * *

**|Shadowcrest, New York, New York**

**|May 23, 2009, 21:14 EDT**

Another year, more adventures. It was near the end of my freshman year of high school and almost summer again. I didn’t have anything planned for the summer but I’d figure a way to make it eventful. 

After last Christmas (I know weird, a demon celebrating the birth of Christ), I had convinced Kent to let me patrol Boston. It took a lot of convincing, but I managed to do it. He pulled some strings and even got me a basic get-up. It was a simple full black suit made of a protective material, which I assumed was kevlar. It even came with a new pair of matching combat boots, and you know how I am with my combat boots. To protect my identity, I also temporarily had a plain domino mask. Kent did promise to get me something special if I did well. Speaking of identity, I decided it was only fitting to go by Phoenix. I even made sure to search the internet to see if it was taken or not. Something Kent had done instead of the ‘something special’ was enchanting a hood onto my coat. And apparently my coat had slits for my wings and I didn’t even know. I probably should’ve known better since my coat was never damaged when I popped my wings in normal t-shirts. Took me 4 years to figure that one out. Makes me wonder what else I missed. Back to the point, I made sure I cut some wing slits into my new uniform so I wouldn’t destroy it by accident. Oh, I even had a spot for my dagger on my right thigh.

Back to the present though, I was currently floating outside of Zatanna’s bedroom window, or rather balcony door, fully suited up with wings out and all. I had my overcoat on with the hood off, as well as my mask. I was planning to sneak her out for a patrol as a belated birthday present since I wasn’t able to come the day of. It was May 20th, but it was a school night Wednesday and I was swamped with a book report due the next day. Although I did text and call so I’m not a completely horrible best friend. 

Knocking a couple of times on her window, I finally caught her attention. She looked at me like I was crazy before quickly opening her window door.

“What’re you doing in front of my window!?” she whispered yelled while giving me a hard stare.

“Well hello to you too, Zee,” I said with a smile. “Just thought I’d drop by and sneak you out. Mind if I step in? A guy floating outside with flaming phoenix wings isn’t really subtle.”

I retracted my wings and landed after she moved to let me step in.

“You didn’t fully answer my question, you know. Why are you trying to sneak me out?” she said after I was in her room.

“Well, you know how I missed your birthday, again?” 

She simply nodded and kept staring.

“I thought I’d sneak you out so you could go on patrol with me to make up for me not being there and all,” I said nervously, not really looking at her. I continued, saying, “You always say you hate how overprotective your dad is. Also, you already sneak out to see some friends, so why not with me this time? It’ll be fun I promise.”

With a sigh, she relented, saying “Fine, but I’m not going out for too long. We leave when I say so. Where are we even patrolling anyway?”

With a grin, I said, “Knew you’d agree. Definitely helps that I don’t have to kidnap you now. Oh, and we’ll be patrolling New York, nothing big though, just petty crime lookout.”

“You’re basically kidnapping me anyway,” she said with a roll with her eyes, before saying, “Give me a moment to get ready then.”

“Should I wait outside or...” I said uneasily.

She shook her head before saying, “Magic, remember?”

“Oh, yeah that.”

Not wasting a second she said,  _ “Etaerc na noisulli fo em ginpeels! (Create an illusion of me sleeping!)”  _ which created a puff of smoke over her bed that dispersed to show an illusion of her sleeping.

Next, she said,  _ “Pu tius! (Suit up!)” _ which made her pajamas turn into a suit I hadn’t seen before. She had on a white dress shirt and bowtie, a yellow low-cut vest, an open tailcoat, black tights, and a pair of black mid-calf boots.

“I’ve been waiting to try this out,” she said before looking towards me and asking, “What do you think?”

“I- uhm, you look great,” I stuttered out with a slight blush. Thank Lucifer it was dark in here.

I could see a small grin appear before I asked, “So are you gonna fly, or do you want me to carry you, Princess?”

Her grin disappeared and she blushed this time, leaving me chuckling.

She quickly responded with, “I’ll be flying myself, now let’s go,” and then walked toward the balcony, leaving me to follow after her.

* * *

We called it quits after two hours as it was getting late and we were both kind of tired. There were no supervillains tonight as I expected since New York didn’t have many native supervillains. We stopped a few armed robberies, muggings, and whatnot, but mostly chilled on the rooftops. It was nice having a partner to patrol with, as usually, they’d be quite boring. I mostly annoyed her, but it wasn’t too bad since it was her first patrol.

Arriving on her balcony, we both landed, with me retracting my wings. 

She turned around to face me and just looked at me for a moment.

I simply raised a brow, questioning her in my mind.

After that moment, she softly said, “Thanks.”

I grinned and said, “What was that? I don’t think I heard you.”

“I said thanks, feather brains. For tonight I mean,” she said after she rolled her eyes at me.

I let out a chuckle before ruffling her hair and saying, “Anytime, Zee. Anytime.”

She didn’t knock my hand away as usual so I just dropped my hand on my own. She did give me a flat stare in response though.

I slowly followed up with, “It’s getting late. I should probably teleport back to the tower before Kent says anything. I had a good time, hope you enjoyed your little kidnapping. Happy belated birthday. Goodnight.”

Right as I was going to step back to summon my magic circle, she stepped forward and hugged me.

I was momentarily shocked, but I got over it quickly and hugged back. As quickly as it started, it ended.

“Thanks, for everything this time. And I did, I mean it. Now, go on, hot head. Goodnight,” she said as she stepped back.

I was grinning like a mad man, but I said, “Off I go then, princess,” and summoned my magic circle.

With a flash of light, I was gone and back in my room at the Tower of Fate.

* * *

**|Gotham City, New Jersey**

**|June 8, 2009, 20:23 EDT**

With no summer plans, I had been training non-stop and only taking a break in between to sleep or patrol. I usually patrolled Boston or New York, occasionally with Zatanna, but today I felt like traveling nearby to Gotham, this was simply the first on my long list. I guess you could call it my plan now, so I also guess I do have summer plans now. 

I had decided on visiting Gotham to see if it was bad as people said it was (and because it was extremely close to Boston rather than a whole country away). To say the least, it was. 

It was your average, Tuesday night, in Gotham. Thugs hiding in the alleys committing robbery, murder, and everything else that happened in the dark. Currently, I had my eye on one thug in a random alley, he hadn’t done anything yet but it looked like he was waiting for something. He had a black hoodie on and dark, blue jeans. From the rooftop, I could see a similarly dressed thug with his hood down at the end of the street. He had started walking toward thug #1’s direction, looking like he was tailing some woman. The woman unluckily, or luckily since I was probably about to save her, walked until our friend’s, thug #1’s, alley. Thug #2 put his hood up and had also entered the alley from a distance. That left us with the random woman being pinched between our pair of thugs.

“Jumping from behind the shadow he was hidden in, thug #1 said, “Give me your phone and purse, woman! Scream for help and I’ll shoot!” while drawing a gun.

“Please! I don’t want any trouble, just let me go!” she said as she clutched her purse and started backing up.

Unluckily for her, thug #2 was right behind her and shoved her forward.

“Listen to him if you know what’s good for you, lady,” he said with a knife out.

Looks like it’s time for me to drop in and crash this little party.

Dropping from the rooftop, I dropkicked thug #1 with the gun, sending him sliding back.

“What th-” started thug #2 before I stepped around the woman, smacking the knife out of his hand with my left hand and throat punching him with my right.

By the time thug #2 was on his knees clutching his throat, thug #1 had decided to get up with his gun pointed at the lady

“Move and I shoot!” he screamed.

Faster than he could comprehend, I stepped up and side kicked the gun upwards into the air before reeling my foot back and kicking his head into the brick wall of the alley.

He was unconscious before he even touched the ground.

Going back to thug #2, who was still on his knees, I kicked his head into the wall for good measure.

Some may call it brutal, but I called it effective.

The lady was still standing around and she said, “Oh, thank God you came. Thank you for saving me. What’s your name?”

“Don’t worry about it. You should probably run along home now, I’ll take care of these guys,” I said instead.

Nodding and thanking me profusely, she ran down the alley.

From the corner of my eye, I could see two shadows from above me against the wall. Looking up, I saw a face I didn’t want to see for a long time, Batman. Standing beside him was a kid. It was probably Robin I assumed.

“Ah shit, Batman,” I said as I stared into his eyes. 

He and Robin quickly dropped down from below.

“Whoa, that was sick how you managed those two! Name’s Robin by the way, but I’m sure you already knew that,” exclaimed Robin as he and Batman now stood a few feet away from me.

“Them? They were nothing,” I said as I turned my attention to Batman. He had that straight face he always wore and his eyes felt like they were boring into me. 

“And if it isn’t the face I didn’t want to see any time soon,” I said as I pulled off my hood and took off my domino mask. 

Looking up at him, I said, “How’s it been? I haven’t seen you for 3 years?”

Robin quickly took up a shocked face, saying, “Wow, first encounter and you gave us your I.D. Wait, Batman, you know him?”

With a simple nod, Batman said, “What’re you doing in Gotham, Claude?”

Taking a face of mock surprise, I said, “Wow, Batman remembers my name? I’m honored. And to answer your question, I thought I would see if what people said about Gotham was true or not so I took a trip up here, kinda forgetting this was your territory in the process.”

Still straight-faced, he replied, “I’ve been keeping tabs on you after Zatara said he had taken on a new student.”

“Well color me surprised, I’m special enough for you to keep tabs on me.”

“Wait, wait, wait, he’s Zatara student I heard you talking with him about?” Robin said, growing ever more confused.

Turning back to Robin, I said, “The one and only. You can call me Claude. Claude Phenex if you want the full thing. I would be going by the name Phoenix but I don’t really use my fire powers much for it to warrant me going around telling everyone my name so.”

“Fire powers? Cool!” Robin exclaimed once again.

“You should get out of here, we’ll take care of the criminals from here,” said the still stone-faced Batman.

“Uhh, I’ll take my leave then. Think I’ve had enough of Gotham for one night. Nice to see you, as always Bats. Nice meeting you too, Robin.”

With that, I slipped my mask and hood back on before sprouting my wings and flying away.

From below, I could hear Robin saying, “He has wings!? Double Cool!”

* * *

**|Star City, Washington**

**|July 21, 2009, 19:13 PDT**

Star City was as cool as the north western cities, with it being in the farthest corner of the north east. It wasn’t too bad, but it reminded him of Boston or New York with its metropolitan area. Although, the nights were still cold even during the middle of summer.

I had arrived only a few minutes ago and was currently going rooftop to rooftop, hoping to stumble upon some unlucky criminals. My wish was granted soon as I spotted a suspicious guy walking with his arm tucked into his jacket. He was on the street directly underneath me, walking fairly quickly. He was headed towards what looked like a small electronics store based on it’s sign sticking from the wall. I decided to watch, not acting until something actually happened. It wouldn’t be right to catch the guy if he hadn’t done anything yet. I didn’t have to wait long though because soon after he entered, he exited and started booking it. The store worker came running out yelling for help. I acted quickly running across the rooftop after him. I ended up ahead of him and chose to jump down then. 

As I landed in front of him, he jumped back by surprise. I capitalized on it by kicking him in his chest, sending him sliding back a bit and forcing him to drop his bag of money. He quickly got up, snatching the bag, and tried running back in the other direction. I went to stop him but he was suddenly tripped when an arrow flew across the street, embedding itself into the wall ahead of him at foot-level. A second arrow came flying across, pinning the bag of money to the wall as the thief fell. Not wasting a moment, I chopped him in the back of the neck, rendering him unconscious for good measure.

Taking a closer look at the arrows, I saw they were green and red, respectively. After taking a peak at the arrows, I looked at the adjacent rooftops, and low and behold stood Green Arrow and his sidekick, Speedy I think it was. I looked back at the money bag and yanked it off the arrow before handing it off to the store worker who had run after the criminal and had finally caught up. 

“Thank you so much!” he said in gratitude, “Can I reward you somehow?”

I simply smiled and said, “You can reward me by staying safe and calling the cops.”

With that done, I flew to the rooftop the archers stood on, who were still observing me. I landed a safe distance away from them and before I could speak, Green Arrow did.

“So, who are you supposed to be? You don’t look any older than Speedy over here,” he questioned.

“You can call me Phoenix. I’m not from around here, just passing by and checking the city out is all. Stopping the few crimes I see,” I answered, going with the safe approach.

“Just passing by? Really?” Speedy asked, with what I think was a hint of distrust.

“Oh you’re the kid the big ol’ Bats talked about. I guess you won’t be causing much trouble then,” replied Green Arrow before he put his finger towards his ear. “Actually, why won’t you show me what you got. Break in at the museum not far from here. Care to join?”

“Sure, why not? Been looking for some better action than street thugs,” I answered with a shrug.

He nodded at me and started heading off towards the museum, but Speedy stayed behind. He gave me a glare before running off towards Green Arrow. I thought nothing of it and flew into the air, actually ending up ahead of them and at the museum first. From the rooftop, I could see a few goons hanging around the front of the museum, trying to be in the shadows. Looked like it wasn’t a normal snatch and run thief then.

Green Arrow and Speedy appeared behind me a moment later with binoculars, seeing the same as I did.

“Doesn’t look like the work of some small timers. There must be a mastermind behind this,” stated Speedy.

Nodding in agreement, Green Arrow said, “There must be more inside.”

I decided to stretch my soul sense out to check the inside of the museum. Near the front were more goons, but there was a single soul on the back of the second floor of the museum.

“I sense a few near the front but there’s a single person on the top floor,” I pointed out to the two.

“You can sense people? Actually, nevermind, let’s clear the ones in the front,” Green Arrow said before he and Speedy started shooting arrows.

I was going to help with the goons but my curiosity about the person on the top floor got the better of me. I flew across the street instead and landed on the roof. I walked towards the center of the roof and looked through the conveniently placed sunroof. In the middle of a tall adult man, maybe around 30 years old with white hair. He wore a green cloak and more green clothing I couldn’t make out underneath. Not the usual get up for a thief. He was reaching for what looked like an emerald, a fairly large one at that.

Deciding that this would be the time to stop him, I stepped back so I could get a step forward for momentum before I crashed through the sunroof. Crashing through the glass, I sent out a fireball at the man, which reached him a split-second before my feet knocked into his chest. He was sent skidding backwards, but quickly got up to his feet.

“And who are you supposed to be? Inverse colored Dracula?” I asked with my brow raised.

Getting a closer look, I could see he was dressed regally, more like a nobleman than a thief. It reminded me of some of the Demon Lords back in the Underworld. He also held a large cane with a golden ball for a handle, yet he didn’t hold it by that.

“A child has interrupted me? Do you think you alone will be able to defeat me? Is Arrow sending children as fodder now? I am Count Vertigo boy, do not underestimate me. I will show you your place,” rambled on Vertigo. Honestly, mini-supervillian speech? What a bore.

Whenever he finished talking, I let a fireball fly towards him. He dodged it this time and stood his ground. A moment later, I found myself falling to the floor. I could see Vertigo ahead of me, but it felt like the world was spinning and I couldn’t grasp my direction.

Suddenly, a red arrow sailed towards Vertigo, spinning him slightly as the arrow knocked his shoulder. The sensation left as Vertigo was knocked. No wonder he called himself Count Vertigo.

“Vertigo, I should’ve guessed it was you. Only you would steal precious gems in this city like this,” said Red Arrow from above.

Dropping down, he gave me a hand up.

“Thanks for the save,” I murmured, getting my bearings.

Vertigo was at his feet again, and yelled, “That is  _ Count  _ Vertigo to you, you insolent brat.”

Speedy had knocked an arrow to fire but Vertigo had stared the both of us down, making us drop again. Speedy’s arrow flew into a random area.

“Now another child has come to try and stop me. Fools, I will end you both here,” he stated as he slowly approached us. He had pulled a sword from his cane as he came closer.

He was cocky and the only reason he had the advantage so far was because of whatever was causing this effect. It also only worked when he looked at me so I just needed him to give up his focus on us for a split second. Thinking quickly, I whispered so only Speedy could hear me and said, “On my mark. Trust me.”

I got ready to charge a fireball as best as I could as Vertigo now stood a foot away from us.

“Any last words, children?” he asked.

I smirked and said, “Do you really think we would come alone? Check again.”

Vertigo’s eyes went wide and he turned to check behind him, but there was nothing.

It was too late for him though because in my weakened state, I still managed to let out a fireball upward and into his face. It caused him to stumble back a step, enough for Speedy to sweep his feet and flip backwards. Once landed he let out a blunt arrow, which crashed into Vertigo’s forehead.

“Should’ve let it hit him in the head the first time,” he muttered, just loud enough for me to hear.

I had gotten up at this point and said, “That was a pain, didn’t think a bozo dressed like that would do anything. A mistake on my part.”

“That’s Count Vertigo for you. He wears a headgear that emits waves that induce vertigo to whoever it faces,” Speedy replied, “And good work, I guess you’re not too bad. Vertigo usually takes a bit longer to fight.”

“Speedy! There you are. You just ran off after the goons at the front,” exclaimed Green Arrow as he had arrived after coming up the stairs.

He looked at the body in front of us in shock before back at us and said, “Vertigo huh? Nice job, kiddos. He’s a pain to deal with, I’m kinda surprised. Impressed for sure. I’ll be sure to forward this to old Bats. You’re welcome back to my city anytime.”

“Hardly impressive, he barely put up a fight,” said Speedy as he walked to Green Arrow.

“I don’t think I’ll be coming back anytime soon. Not with this guy hanging around,” I joked. “I better get going though, whatever he did made my head mush for a bit.”

“Go ahead kid, we’ll take care of this from here. I already have the goons in the front and outside secured,” chuckled Green Arrow.

Speedy gave me a nod of respect before I flew out to another rooftop to get myself situated. I needed to teleport back to the tower and rest this headache off. 

At least my evening in Star City was pretty eventful, besides the part where Speedy and I almost died that is.

* * *

**|Central City, Missouri**

**|August 13, 2009, 10:23 CDT**

After that meeting with Batman and Robin in Gotham, I had only returned a handful of times. Luckily, I didn’t run into Batman any of the times, but I did meet Robin once or twice when he was solo patrolling. With all the cities I patroled or visited usually having crime occur at night, I decided to visit Central City. Why you might ask? Well, most of the crime in Central City happened during the day. That could be said for many other cities too, like Metropolis, but I rather not step on the big blue boy scout’s turf with his heavy hitter baddies.

Right now, I was hanging out on the rooftop munching on a sandwich. Although jumping from rooftop to rooftop in broad daylight wasn’t very inconspicuous, there wasn’t really another option at the moment. I had just arrived a little bit ago and picked up the sandwich from a random deli. I got a few weird looks since I was wearing my overcoat all the way buttoned up tightly, but with no mask or hood. If I was thinking properly, I probably would’ve eaten lunch at the tower, but oh well. 

I was halfway through my sandwich before I saw a plume of smoke rising into the air.

Sighing, I said to myself, “Guess I won’t be finishing this anytime soon,” before pocketing my now wrapped up sandwich and sprouting my wings. I flew towards the smoke, not before donning my mask and hood, and was soon met with the view of a bank with a series of cop cars surrounding it. I had landed between two cars and formed a barrier in front of me using my magic circle. There were a few cops behind the cars, taking cover from shots coming from the bank.

They all looked at me before one of them spoke up and said, “Who the hell are you?”

Without looking, I simply answered, “Someone who’s here to help. Now, what’s the situation?”

“There are a few crooks robbing the bank ahead of us and they have hostages, we don’t know how many,” a different cop answered.

“That’s all I needed to know. Get ready to bag them,” I said as I started running towards the bank.

Halfway to the bank, with my barrier still up and taking fire, two blurs sped past me. One of the blurs hit the robber firing on the police, while the other sped inside. Seeing my chance, I sped inside to hit another criminal who wasn’t expecting anything with a swift punch to the head. The two blurs were both inside now, taking out robbers left and right. Looking behind the clerks counter, I saw a robber pointing his shotgun as one of the hostages. Without thinking, I summoned a whip of fire and wrapped it around his arm and threw him from behind the counter to an opposite facing wall. Damn, it always felt good throwing criminals into walls.

With all the robbers in the main room taken care of, the hostages started getting and fleeing, with the two blurs from before stopping right in front of me.

Standing in front of me were Flash and Kid Flash.

Kid Flash quickly asked, “Who are you?”

Before I could answer, a bank teller came running up to us and exclaimed, “Th-there are three more within the vault, please stop them!” before running off.

Flash and Kid Flash both ran towards the vault, but not before Flash said, “Beat criminals now, talk later.”

Running after them as quickly as I could, I entered the vault. As I arrived, there were already 3 unconscious bodies in the vault, with Flash and Kid Flash standing over them.

“Seems like I missed the action,” I said.

“So, who are you, anyway?” asked Flash, now that everything was handled.

“You can call me Phoenix. I was just stopping by and I saw the smoke coming from the bank,” I answered.

“You’re the kid that Kent Nelson took as his student?” he asked.

“The one and only. I assumed Batman told you that,” I said with a small grin.

Looking towards the Flash, Kid Flash said, “Kent who? And Batman?”

“Among other things, yeah. We can take care of things here,” he said towards me, before turning to Kid Flash and saying, “I’ll explain later.”

“Well, it was nice meeting you, I guess. Peace out.” I said with a shrug. A second after, I sprouted my wings and flew out of the bank and away.

That meeting was a lot nicer than the one with Batman. Too bad I didn’t get too see too much action. Now to finally finish that sandwich.


	5. Chapter 1:Today Is The Day

**A/N: So dialogue is pretty straightforward, most of it’s from the show but I’m trying to add some of my own twists to it in between. Most chapters will follow the normal timeline and events but I already have some big twists in the works as well as parts dedicated to just Claude. This chapter specifically is gonna be very similar in dialogue to the show but future missions won’t be as much. I really want to have an original feel after this chapter. Hope you guys enjoy. Remember to leave a review if you like it.**

* * *

**|Washington, DC**

**|July 4, 2010, 14:00 EDT**

It was the fourth of July, the American independence day. I wasn’t a big celebrator of the holiday since I came from another universe and dimension and all that, but I did understand the sentiment. We celebrated similarly but for the anniversary of the ending of the first war in the Underworld. This fourth of July was going to be different though because I was taking Kent out on a day on the town. I had planned for us to watch the firework show at 9 tonight after taking him out to dinner. It was going to be at a nice fine dining restaurant, which wasn’t really my type of place but it was a small sacrifice for some much needed time with Kent. He wasn’t getting any younger and I’ve been preoccupied with training, patrolling, and hanging around in New York.

So far today, I had already taken him out for lunch and we were both pretty stuffed.

“You know, your idea about walking this off wasn’t that bad. I think if I sat on that bench any longer I would’ve fallen asleep from a food coma for good,” I said to Kent.

“Of course it was a good idea, you think this was my first rodeo with a good stuffing of food?” Kent replied, giving me that smug grin of his.

“Yeah, yeah, old man. Maybe we can look around at some stores. The dinner reservation isn’t until 7:30 anyway.”

“Indeed. There are many tourist stops we could look at. There’s the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, and how about the Hall of Justice?”

“All good ideas but that's a lot of walking for a man that’s 106. Think you can handle it?” I said jokingly.

With a chuckle, he replied, “I’ll have you know, I may be old but I’m still strong for my age.”

We both shared a short laugh. It was times like this, I’d imagine what it must be like to live normally, celebrating with a large family, sharing laughs with them and all that.

That thought would end quickly as I saw a large plume of smoke enter the sky. Must’ve been a fire or an explosion.

Turning to Kent, I pointed towards the smoke and asked, “You mind if I go deal with that?”

With a smile, he said, “Of course not. Go save some lives, kid.”

Returning his smile, I simply replied, “Duty calls,” before running off into an alley.

While running, I said,  _ “Tius up! (Suit up!)” _ which transformed my civilian clothing into my suit. It had gotten a few design upgrades, with the black turning into a charcoal gray and the mask, shoulders, forearms guards, gloves, belt, knee guards, and boots turning a dark shade of red. I thought I should probably have some color on my suit after meeting with Robin one time in Gotham. I didn’t want to look all dark and broody like Batman after all.

Now suited up, I sprouted my wings and flew up high and towards the fire. Closing in I could see a two-story building surrounded by a firetruck and three ambulances. It seemed like the smoke was coming from a small fire on the second floor. Seemed simple enough.

Flying down closer towards the fire, I could see that there we two scientists yelling for help. I flew in to siphon some fire that was slowly encroaching them, but there was a sudden explosion behind them. The two scientists were flown forward and dived to catch them, but they were quickly picked up and dropped on the roof by a familiar red and yellow blur. The blur, who I could now see as Kid Flash, was hanging off the second-floor windows now.

With a grin, I said, “Need a hand?”

He gave me a flat stare, before sarcastically replying, “Nooo, I’m perfectly fine” and then “Yes, I need a hand!”

Flying into the building and landing, I gripped his forearms and dragged him inside. After pulling him in, I asked, “So, what’re you doing here?”

Before he could answer, Robin swung in with his grapple and said, “Whoa, Phoenix, didn’t think I’d see you here.”

“I could say the same to both of you,” I replied.

Looking back, I saw another person around our age pulling water and creating a platform, and asked, “A friend of yours?”

I was faced with no reply and looked back inside to see no one around me.

The new guy lowered himself onto the ledge of the window before dropping the scientists off below.

He turned towards me and was about to say something but I cut him off, saying, “Friend of Robin and Kid Flash?”

He nodded and asked back, “You?”

“Same as you, I’ll explain later. They just disappeared but I think they went this way,” I said pointing at the doorway to a room.

He nodded and we both set off after the two.

When we met up with them, he said, “Appreciate the help. I met your friend, by the way.”

Robin, who looked like he was hacking into a computer, said “You handled it. Besides, we’re here to investigate.”

He was about to turn back to the computer before realizing I was behind the new guy.

“Oh! Introductions. Aqualad this is Phoenix, Phoenix this is Aqualad. And of course, you already know me and Kid Flash,” Robin said as he turned Aqualad and me. 

Sticking out his hand, Aqualad said, “It is a pleasure meeting you. I’m guessing you’ll be tagging along with us?” Although he mostly said that last part to Robin.

“Nice meeting you too. And I’m down to join your little investigation if you’ll have me, I mean,” I replied to Aqualad.

“Don’t worry, Aqualad. Phoenix is cool. I’ve met him on patrol in Gotham a few times and so has KF in Central City,” said Robin as he continued to hack the computer.

“Yup and the dude has some sick wings,” said Kid Flash, sticking his head up from the filing cabinet he was rummaging through.

“Hello to you too, Kid,” I said as he went back into his filing cabinet.

“If you are a friend of Robin and Kid Flash, then you are a friend of mine,” Aqualad said as he walked out of the room we were in.

I replied with a small smile before following him out, but as we exited we both heard the dining of the elevator. Turning our heads, we got a brief glimpse of something before the doors shut.

“There was something in the-” Aqualad started, but he was quickly cut off by Kid Flash, saying, “Elevators should be locked down.”

Extending my soul sense, I felt multiple below us, and asked, “This is supposed to be a two-story building right? I’m sensing souls, below us. Below us as in farther down than one floor.”

Kid Flash quickly asked looking at me, “Wait, you can sense souls? What are you the devil?”

With a chuckle, I said, “Something like that,” before following Robin, who went to check out the elevator.

Pulling out his wrist computer, Robin says, “This is wrong.”

“How so?” I asked with a raised brow.

He pulled up the elevator specs on his wrist computer, which read Silver Slip Express Elevator, before replying, “This is a high-speed express elevator, It doesn’t belong in a two-story building.”

“Neither does what I saw,” stated Aqualad before he forced open the elevator doors.

“It would explain what I felt,” I said, walking forward. Through the doors, we could see what looked like an almost endless shaft going down. On the side of the walls were letters and numbers, which I assumed labeled the level. We were on L-2, make sense.

Walking past both me and Aqualad, Robin said, “And that’s why they need an express elevator,” before firing his grapple at the ceiling and dropping down.

Aqualad and Kid Flash grabbed the line and slid down after him, but I simply sprouted my wings and flew down.

“I’m at the end of my rope,” Robin said surprised.

Stopping next to Robin, I looked to the side to read the level we were at and said, “I’m surprised your rope went down 28 floors to begin with.” 

“I’d fly us down further, but I can only carry two at a time. Besides, we should probably figure out where we are before we go down further.” 

The others nodded and Robin pulled out his wrist computer.

“Bypassing security,” he said as he continued to tap away before saying, “There. Go.”

With that, Aqualad simply pried the doors open as he did before and we all walked forward into the hall.

It was a fairly standing hallway but had been lined in these curved metal pieces.

Kid Flash suddenly sped off ahead, prompting to Aqualad to whisper-yell after him.

“Does he always do that?” I asked but was faced with no answer as they ran after him. 

Kid Flash was about to reach the end of the hall but thundering footsteps almost flattened him before he spun away and sped back to us.

The creatures making those thundering footsteps were huge, tall than elephants and the posture of gorillas. 

As they walked by, Aqualad sarcastically said, “No. Nothing odd going on here.”

“Not at all,” I replied before asking, “What are those things? They must have been what I felt from above.”

“They’re some creatures of sorts but we won’t find out unless I can get into a terminal to hack,” Robin said as we continued to watch them pass.

Kid Flash then said, “Let’s go to where they were coming from, I’m sure we can find a terminal somewhere.”

Aqualad nodded and stated, “Good idea,” and started walking with us following him.

“So, now that we have some time to talk, how do you know Robin and Kid Flash. I know they already said patrols, but I would like to know from you,” Aqualad asked me.

“Oh, them? I met Robin after Batman and he saw me beat up some thugs in an alley. Batman already knew of me though because we had met in the past. I’d come back to Gotham sometimes and we would see each other on patrol, thankfully without Batman tagging along. As for Kid Flash, we had a brief meeting in Central City. We didn’t talk much because I was really talking to Flash, but I helped a bit,” I answered as we continued walking. “How about you? How do you know them?”

“Our mentors are a part of the Justice League and we have met occasionally over the last few years. As you can probably guess, I am Aquaman’s protege,” he answered back before we ended up in front of a large door.

Nodding I said, “Think you can pry this door open too?”

He shook his head and said, “This looks heavy-duty, Robin would have to hack it.”

“Already on it,” he said as the doors opened. “Okay, I’m officially whelmed.”

In front of us were rows and rows of cricket-like creatures the size of footballs, stacked 3 levels high. Each were contained in small tubes and were giving off arcs of electricity.

Staring at the rows, Kid Flash had the look of realization on his face, and stated, “This is how they hide their underground facility from the world”. Turning back to us, he continued, “The real Cadmus isn’t on the grid. It generates its own power with these… things. Must be what they’re bred for.”

“Even the name is a clue,” Aqualad told us. “The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the Earth.”

Walking forward, Robin said, “And this Cadmus creates new life too,” before going towards a terminal and saying, “Let’s find out why.”

I still stood next to Aqualad in awe, and said, “They’re playing God. Each of these creatures breathes, lives, and has a soul. Playing God never ends well.”

Successfully bypassing the system on the computer, Robin says, “They call them Genomorphs,” as we huddle around them. 

Flipping through the profiles for each genomorphs, Robin exclaims, “Whoa! Look at the stats on these things, super-strength, telepathy, razor claws. These are living weapons,” saying that last part in shock.

Squinting at the data, Kid Flash states, “They’re engineering an army, but for who?”

“No one good, that’s for sure,” I said, looking over his shoulder.

Opening a new file, Robin quickly said, “Wait. There’s something else. Project Kr.” He let out a noise of frustration quickly after, saying, “The files triple-encrypted. I-I can’t-”

We were suddenly interrupted though, as someone came running in, yelling, “Don’t move!” with the monkey/goblin looking genomorphs. They wore a mostly blue uniform with a golden helmet and shield on their left forearm.

He stopped in front of us and said “Wait, Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and… I don’t know who you are actually?”

I was thinking about saying my name but quickly thought against it since I didn’t want a potential bad guy knowing my name.

“Wait, I know you,” said Aqualad in realization, “Guardian, a hero.”

“I do my best,” he simply responded.

Why would a hero be here in a most likely illegal lab? Wait, scratch that, a definitely illegal lab.

“Then what are you doing?” asked Kid Flash, voicing all of our concerns.

“I’m Chief of Security,” the now identified Guardian responded, “You’re trespassing, but we can call the Justice League, figure this out.”

Robin’s wrist computer beeped. I guess he decrypted it and finished his download, but I didn’t dare look back to check.

Kid Flash quickly replied, almost yelling, “You think the League’s gonna approve of you breeding weapons?”

“Weapons?” Guardian questioned, looking at us confused, “What are you-. What have I-” 

He didn’t finish his thought though as horns of the small genomorph on his shoulder glowed red, making his eyes go wide.

“Ugh my head,” Guardian said as he brought his hand to the side of his head as if he was in pain. 

Suddenly, he brought his hand down and ordered, “Take them down hard! No mercy.”

With that, the genomorphs leaped forward at us, but before they got close, Robin spun and dropped a smoke pellet, blocking their view. He quickly grappled onto a high beam, swinging forward and past Guardian and the genomorphs. That left Aqualad, Kid, Flash, and me to deal with them. Although I couldn’t see them, I heard them struggling with genomorphs. After hearing Aqualad grunt, one of them jumped from above me but I easily sidestepped, which prompted another one to leap at me, only for me to kick it away. Some flew through the smoke and I could only assume they were beaten from Kid Flash or Aqualad, but I didn’t dwell as I ran towards where Robin was head.

I had met up with Aqualad and Kid Flash outside the smoke, with Guardian laying on the ground. The alarms had suddenly started blaring as we ran after Robin, with Kid Flash speeding ahead of Aqualad and me. Looking behind us, a swarm of genomorphs tailed us, more than I remembered entering.

Up ahead, Robin and Kid had opened the doors to the express elevator. Kaldur and I ran as fast as we could, with him jumping through the doors and me sliding in right behind him. The doors shut right as the genomorphs came clashing.

“Close call,” I said, feeling my heart finally slow down.

Looking up, Aqualad noticed the number going up, and disdainfully asked, “We’re headed down?”

“Dude, out is up,” said Kid Flash incredulously looking at Robin and point up in the air.

“Yeah, I have dinner plans I can’t miss,” I said in agreement.

We all looked at Robin in confusion before he replied, looking almost offended that we questioned him, “Excuse me? Project Kr, it’s down on Sub-level 52.”

Rubbing his head, Aqualad said, “This is out of control,” as he moved to the other side of the elevator. “Perhaps- perhaps we should contact the League.”

“I agree with the first part, this was supposed to be a little investigation, not some delving into the big bad guy’s secret underground lab,” I chimed in.

Right as I finished saying that, the elevator reached the 52nd floor. When the door opened, we readied ourselves, but there was nothing there yet. The large area was covered in a red, organic-looking substance with blue pods sticking out.

Robin ran forward ahead of us. Surprisingly not Kid Flash this time.

“We are already here,” Kid Flash said as he turned to us, before running after Robin.

Aqualad and I are both left in the elevator, giving a sigh and then follow after the younger proteges.

Meeting up in front of split hallways, Aqualad tensely asked Robin, “Which way?”

Robin chuckled and joked, “Yeah, bizarre-looking hallway one, or bizarre-hallway two?” 

I couldn’t blame him for the joke, he was only trying to lighten the mood.

We didn’t need to make up our mind though as we suddenly heard someone speaking to us.

“Halt!” they ordered, stepping out of the shadows. It was a genomorph but it looked more human than any of the others we’ve seen.

It didn’t matter because they quickly sent explosive barrels flying at us, forcing us to move.

We ran down the hallway and Kid Flash had sped ahead. Turning the corner we saw the opening of a large door, similar to the one before the room with electric type genomorphs, a scientist Kid Flash. 

He jammed a canister of some sort into the now closing doors and yelled, “Hurry!”

He didn’t have to tell us twice as we jumped through, Aqualad staying behind to kick the canister out of the door’s way. 

I looked around the room while Robin went to a terminal to hack it.

“I disabled the door. We’re safe,” he said, turning back to us.

“We’re trapped,” Aqualad tensely stated.

“How are we supposed to get out from 52 levels below?” I asked no one in particular. I was growing a little frustrated with our situation.

Calling back to us, Kid Flash said, “Uh, guys. You’ll want to see this.”

After saying that, he pressed a button on the center console, turning the lights on.

In front of us was a pod that contained a person in a white jumpsuit with Superman’s ‘S’ on it. The pod was labeled Kr in big letters.

“Whoa,” Robin said in shock.

In shock as well, I said “Whoa, indeed.” 

Kid Flash walked up towards the pod, and in realization said, “Big ‘K’, little ‘r’, the atomic symbol for Krypton.” Turning back, he questioned, “Clone?”

Aqualad looked down at Robin and ordered, “Robin., hack”

He looked up confused for a moment before saying, “Oh. Right, right,” and plugging his wrist computer into the console.

Bypassing the security he started reading, “Weapon Designation Superboy, a clone force-grown in… sixteen weeks?!” His eyes might as well have popped out from his head, before he continued with “From DNA acquired from Superman.”

“Stolen from Superman,” Aqualad quickly corrected.

“No way the big guy knows about this.” Kid Flash said in agreement.

I simply nodded. Who could even steal Superman’s DNA and clone him? That was an insane thought to begin with.

Continuing to read off his wrist computer, Robin said, “Solar Suit allows him to absorb yellow-sun radiation 24/7.”

“And these creatures?” Aqualad questioned, pointing towards the three small genomorphs above Superboy.

“Genomorph Gnomes, telepathic, force-feeding him an education,” Robin replied.

“They’re similar to the ones we saw on Guardian,” I pointed out. 

“And we can guess what else,” Kid Flash says before continuing with, “They’re making a slave out of, well, Superman’s son.”

“Now, we contact the League,” said Aqualad as he reached towards the emblem on his belt. It glowed before dying down. A communicator of some sort?

“No signal,” Robin quickly points out.

“We’re in too deep literally,” said Kid Flash, with the last part being flat.

“Can’t back out of being detectives now,” I murmured.

After a brief moment of silence, Kid Flash finally says, “This is wrong.” 

“We can’t leave him like this,” Robin agreed.

“We should free him,” I said as we all looked towards Aqualad.

He had his hand on his chin as if he was thinking before he simply ordered, “Do it.”

Robin pulled up his wrist computer, sliding something down, prompting the pod to disappear and depressurize.

The clone’s right hand moved, clenching into a fist and cracking his knuckles. He opened his eyes but suddenly leaped at Aqualad a second later.

Flying past us, Superboy and Aqualad landed on the floor, with Aqualad pinned under the Superboy.

Superboy started wailing at Aqualad’s face but was stopped as the three of us got out of our shock and grabbed onto Superboy. Kid Flash grabbed his right arm, Robin had put him in a headlock, and I grabbed his right arm.

“Whoa! Hang on, Supey. We’re on your side!” said a struggling Robin.

He didn’t stop though, instead, he pulled his arm out of Kid Flash’s grip and punched him backward. He went through a glass tube and went unconscious from what I could tell. I didn’t dare take more than a glance, not unless I wanted to end up like him.

“I don’t want to do this,” continued Robin before slamming a disc that exploded in green gas.

I jumped back to avoid the gas and Superboy had backed up far enough for Aqualad to free legs and kick him back into the center console.

Thinking quickly, Robin pulled out a small device that shot out two cords of taser wire into Superboy’s chest. Superboy quickly grabbed on the cords, seemingly unaffected, and pulled Robin into a slam and then proceeded to grind his foot into Robin’s chest.

Seeing as Aqualad was still dazed on the ground, I formed my fire whip and swung it around Superboy, pulling him forward, off of Robin. Aqualad had gotten up and yelled, “Enough!” forming a hammer made up water and hitting the still forward-moving Superboy.

Aqualad had been quick to check on Robin but it seemed like he had already passed out.

As I was standing behind Aqualad, he stepped up with his hand out, signaling stop to Superboy, and said “We are trying to help you.”

Superboy just stood there, staring us down, until he launched forward, swinging down on where Aqualad just stood. Aqualad kicked him into the wall and attempted to punch down, but his fist was caught and he was kicked back. Superboy quickly got up and ran at Aqualad, but forgot I was there so I launched a ball of chaotic magic into his back. He stumbled forward but was stopped as Aqualad fist uppercut his chest. I quickly formed a new whip and swung it around his arms and torso. Taking advantage of this, Aqualad jumped behind him and slipped his arms behind his and put him in a headlock, electrocuting Superboy as I held him. With a jump, Superboy slammed Aqualad into the ceiling, pulling me into the air as my whip was still attached. Dispersing my whip, I was thrown off into a wall, with my head colliding with it.

Everything went black.

* * *

**|Washington, DC**

**|July 5, 2010, 00:01 EDT**

_ “Time runs short. You must awaken. You must awaken NOW!” _

I jerked my head up, taking a deep breath. What happened? We were free Superboy and… oh, we freed Superboy, that’s what happened.

I was in a pod with my arms bound above me and feet bound below me. Looking around, I saw the other proteges in pods similar to mine. The metal bindings wouldn’t be a problem as I could probably pick them or even better yet, channel fire through my finger like a blowtorch and melt myself out. The problem would be what to do after, we couldn’t beat Superboy after all.

Superboy stood in front of the pods, staring down Kid Flash.

It prompted Kid Flash to question, or rather yell, “What? What do you want? Quit staring. You're creeping me out.”

To be fair, it was kinda creepy. He just stood there motionlessly staring at Kid Flash.

Robin responded seriously with, “Uh, KF, how about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?”

Also, another fair point.

“Honestly? I don’t see why he wouldn’t have done it by now if he really wanted to so…” I said trying to lighten the mood.

Trying to calm down the situation, Aqualad stated, “We only sought to help you.”

Quick mouthed as ever, Kid said, “Yeah. We free you, and you turn on us. How's that for grat-" but was quickly cut off by Aqualad saying, “Kid, please, be quiet now. I believe our friend was not in full control of his actions.”

For the first time, I think quite literally, Superboy spoke, “Wha-what if I…”, he started before huffing and continuing with, “What if I wasn’t?”

“He can talk?” Kid exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes,  _ he _ can,” Superboy replied as he clenched his fist.

We all gave Kid a flat stare before he spoke up, “Not like I said, ‘it’.”

“The Genomorph taught you telepathically,” Aqualad said in realization.

Of course, the genomorph gnomes, the small telepathic ones that Robin said fed him an education.

“They taught me much,” Superboy replied, “I can read, write. I-I know the names of things.”

“But have you seen them? Have they actually let you see the sky? Or the sun?” questioned Robin.

“Images are implanted in my mind, but no I have not seen them,” said Superboy as he lowered his head.

Aqualad questioned Superboy as well, asking, “Do you know what you are, who you are?”

Straightening himself, Superboy answered, “I am the Superboy, a Genomorph, a clone made from the DNA of the Superman, created to replace him should he perish… to destroy him should he turn from the light.”

To destroy Superman? That’s a tall order, even for a clone of Superman. That guy’s godlike, basically a god already. Although not close enough for God. Thank Lucifer for that one.

Going again, Aqualad approached, “To be like Superman is a worthy aspiration, but like Superman, you deserve a life of your own beyond that solar suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus.”

The instant he finished, Superboy yelled, “I live because of Cadmus! It is my home!”

This struck a chord with me and I couldn’t figure out why, but I said “You don’t live because of Cadmus, you exist. We can show you what it’s like to live. To live is experience. What do you experience down here? Your pod? The genomorphs that control your mind? You can experience the warmth and light of the sun, not see it in images in your brain.”

Cutting in bluntly, Robin followed up with, “Your home is a test tube. We can show you the sun.”

“Uh, pretty sure it's after midnight, but we can show you the moon,” Kid Flash stated. Wait, how did he know it was after midnight? We were unconscious.

Continuing the train of persuasion, Aqualad said, “We can show you, introduce you to Superman.” Hook, line, and sinker. Or so I thought because immediately after someone spoke up from the doors.

“No, they can’t,” said the new voice from the door. It was a scientist, along with Guardian and the scientist from outside Project Kr. They all had small genomorph gnomes on their shoulders. “They'll be otherwise occupied. Activate the cloning process," he continued, with the last part to the other scientist.

Robin quickly protested, yelling, “Pass! Batcave's crowded enough.”

I expected Kid Flash to be the one cracking jokes but I guess Aqualad’s ‘be quiet’ really got to him.

“And get the Weapon back in its pod!” commanded the new scientist towards Guardian.

“Hey, how come he gets to call Supey an ‘it’?” said Kid finally speaking up.

“Not the time, Kid,” I answered flatly.

In desperation, Aqualad simply said, “Help us.”

Guardian had walked up and placed a hand on Superboy’s shoulder, but he shrugged it off, prompting the douchey scientist to say, “Don't start thinking now,” and for his genomorph to hop from his shoulder to Superboy’s. It’s horns glowed red, which I assumed meant telepathic control. 

“See you're not a real boy. You're a weapon, and you belong to me! Well, to Cadmus. Same thing. Now get back to your pod!” yelled the scientist. What an absolute scum bag. I’d personally drop him off in hell if I could.

The now controlled Superboy started walking away, the door closing behind him.

A second later, I was stabbed by 8 needle arms that were sparking with electricity. Holy crap! This was worse than the time Zatanna used her ‘hands of lighting’ spell on me. A moment later I felt suction, was it draining me? I didn’t dwell but I couldn’t think about anything else either. I couldn’t even concentrate to focus my magic. I could only barely force my screams down.

After what felt like an eternity, the door was knocked off entirely, somehow cutting the power to the machine. The three scientists walked towards Superboy but were quickly knocked back after douchey scientist attempted to order Superboy again.

“Don’t give me orders,” he said to the downed scientists before walking up to our pods.

“You here to save us or fry us?” asked Kid Flash. I could only give him another flat stare.

Glaring at us, Superboy seemed to try but nothing happened. “Huh. I don't seem to have heat vision, so I suppose helping is my only option.” Whew, not ending up as a fried demi-demon today.

A second later, Robin jumped down from his pod, somehow freeing himself. Probably picked it if I had to guess.

“Ahh. Finally! Lucky Batman isn't here. He'd have my head for taking so long.”

Taking after his lead, I ignited fire at my fingertips, starting to melt the bindings.

“Seriously, that's what you're worried about?” Kid Flash said deadpanning, “The whole League will have our heads after tonight!”

Robin went up to the center console, ignoring Kid Flash, and pressed a button that retracted our pod covers and the needle arms. I quickly jumped out as I already finished melting the bindings. Robin then turned to Superboy, telling him, “Get Aqualad. I'll get Kid Mouth.”

“Don't you give me orders either,” Superboy replied, all but growling. He went on to free Aqualad anyway, with Aqualad thanking him before we all started running away.

The douchey scientists shouted, “You- you'll never get out of here! I'll have you back in pods before morning,” as we ran by.

“That guy is not whelmed,” muttered Robin, “Not whelmed at all,” before he threw 3 discs at the pods

Kid Flash asked a question I had been wondering all day, “What is with you and this whelmed thing?”

Robin didn’t answer though and we continued running away, an explosion which I assumed was from the discs going off behind us.

We were running through the halls and from what it looked like, we were still on sub-level 42 as the walls were still lined with the strange material and well, the walls were labeled SL-42.

“We are still 42 levels below ground but if we can make the elevator…” Aqualad started but was soon stopped as the behemoth genomorphs blocked our exit.

Looking behind us, the previously like blue orbs in the wall were now all shining a bright red, with the small monkey-looking genomorphs hatching from them.

Looking back forward, we jumped from an oncoming strike from the large genomorphs, before we jumped through the horde and ended up behind them. Behind us, Superboy was beating on one of the larger genomorphs.

Rubble falling down after a punch from Superbot prompted Aqualad to tell Superboy, “Superboy, the goal is escape. Not to bury ourselves here.”

Turning to face us, Superboy angrily screamed, “You want to escape!?” before throwing a downed genomorph into two others.

Soon after, we ended up at the elevator, with Aqualad prying the doors once again. Robin grappled up and Kid jumped from side beam to side beam up, leaving Superboy to carry Aqualad and fly after me as I sprouted my wings. They were at around sub-level 10 before descending. Robin quickly threw a birdarang into the wall for Aqualad to catch as I sped down back for them.

Saddened and confused, Superboy, softly asked, “Superman can fly. Why can't I fly?”

“Don't know but it does look like you can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Still cool,” said Kid Flash as he tried to comfort him.

Grabbing Superboy from Aqualad’s grasp, I dropped him on the edge. Aqualad dropped himself shortly after. From the labeling, I could see we were on sub-level 15. 

“Ah, thank you,” Superboy murmured.

“Don’t sweat it,” I said, but soon heard something coming from above us.

“Guys, this will have to be our exit,” Robin stated as the elevator sped down towards us. What was it doing up there anyway?

Aqualad and Superboy both punched at the doors, sending them flying off into the hall as the elevator sped by. In front of us were the short genomorphs, making us veer into another hallway.

As we were running, Superboy suddenly yelled, “Go left!” and then “Right!” which led us to a dead-end with a single vent covering.

“Great directions, Supey,” Kid Flash said sarcastically, “Are you trying to get us repodded?”

Superboy looked confused but said, “No. I-I don't understand.”

"Don't apologize. This is perfect!" exclaimed Robin as he caught up.

Pulling off the vent cover, he leaped in and started crawling. We all followed suit.

As we were crawling inside, Kid Flash exasperatedly complained, “Ugh, at this rate we'll never get out.”

He was soon shh’d by Superboy as he looked back and said, “Listen.” 

There was rumbling and screeching coming from where we entered.

Crawling faster, we exited at the next vent opening we found.

Robin immediately pulled out his wrist computer and started typing away and a moment later said, “I hacked the motions sensors.”

“Sweet!” Kid Flash said, but Robin quickly continued saying, “Still plenty of them between us and out.”

Pulling his goggles on, Kid Flash replied, “But I've finally got room to move,” before speeding through the door and stairs of the emergency staircase we landed near.

We ran off following up, with Kid Flash clearing the small genomorphs coming from the front. 

“More behind us!” Robin called out, leaving Superboy to stomp, destroying the entire staircase below his foot. Damn, super strength, indeed. 

We arrived on sub-level 1, but as we got there, an emergency gate closed us off from going any further. Even with Superboy and Aqualad trying to pull the doors, it didn’t budge. 

“Can't hack this fast enough,” said Robin in frustration as he typed away on his wrist computer.

Kicking down a door beside us, Robin said, “This way!”

It didn’t matter though as we were surrounded after entering a crossroads. All types of genomorphs stood around us, with Guardian, albeit a controlled one, stood front and center. We all prepped for battle, with Aqualad readying his water bearers.

That was until my mind went black.

I awoke not a moment after as we were still surrounded. Superboy was now standing though.

Slowly, he states “I... choose... freedom.”

Guardian, who was still in front of us said, “Feels like fog... lifting,” as the genomorph on his shoulder jumped off.

“Guardian?” Aqualad questioned, as we all stood up.

“Go. I'll deal with Desmond,” he replied with conviction.

“I think not,” douchey scientists, or now known as Desmond, said, “Project Blockbuster will give me the power to restore order to Cadmus.”

After speaking, he downed a glowing blue vial that made him drop to the floor in pain. He started transforming, with his muscles destroying his shirt and lab coat and his flesh soon peeling off of his now new gray skin. His flesh still laid on him above his shoulder and he resembled a monster with dark red eyes. 

“Everyone back!” ordered Guardian as he rushed the monster, but he was quickly backhanded unconscious into the wall. The monster must have super-strength with those muscles now.

Lunging forward, Superboy punched the monster only to be punched downward. He turned another punch but was punched backward soon after. Jumping high into the air, Superboy was about to strike down on the monster, but it leaped up, carrying Superboy through the ceiling with him.

Standing under the hole, Robin said in awe, “Okay. That's one way to bust through the ceiling,” and grappled up.

Gripping Robin’s utility belt to grapple with him, Kid Flash asked, “You think lab coat planned that?”

Standing below, Aqualad darkly said “I doubt he’s planning anything anymore,” before jumping from the hole.

“No kidding,” I said as I jumped out right behind him.

On the surface, Superboy was already fighting the monster but was soon thrown into us, with Robin, Kid Flash, and me dodging him. Aqualad was not so lucky as he ‘caught’ Superboy, sending him sliding. We helped them up and now stood facing him. 

Kid Flash was the first go, as expected, and slid under between the monster’s feet, making him turn back. 

Using this small distraction, Aqualad and Superboy leaped forward and struck him together, with Kid Flash on his hands and knees behind his legs.

The thing tripped backward, prompting Kid to say “Learned that one in kindergarten.”

Immediately after Robin and I jumped, he going right over Kid Flash and me lying into the air to conjure a ball of fire. Robin threw a pair of his discs, but they were swatted away as the monster turned, but in doing so, he left himself open to my fireball flying straight into his back. His arms and legs slid outward from him, leaving him flat on the ground.

It looked up dazed at Superboy, who now stood in front of him, and was about to get stomped in by Superboy, only to quickly pounce and force Superboy into a pillar. He held Superboy by the throat as he tried to swing at him but his attempts barely fazed the beast as he beat him into the pillar. Mid swing, Aqualad had his water whip around his arm to stop him, and taking his lead I flew past Aqualad to his left and whipped my flames around too. 

Aqualad had used his whip to pull himself forward, landing on the pillar and forming a mace. I hovered in the air, still keeping his arm in place as Aqualad beat the monster into the ground with his strike. Superboy was then dropped on his feet and punched the beast into the opposite facing pillar. Kid Flash followed up running to beat him into the pillar but was caught. Using Kid as a battering ram, he ran through the original pillar, destroying it.

Moving to save Kid Flash, I hovered above and sent a torrent of flames down onto the monster, forcing him to drop Kid. Superboy then tried to swing at the beast, but his fist was caught. This left it open to attack from Aqualad who had positioned himself directly behind him with his water mace. With a swing it stumbled and fell to the floor, losing his balance.

“KF, Phoenix, Get over here!” yelled Robin with his wrist computer out. Kid sped towards him as I flew over and Robin started to explain his plan.

“KF, you need to bait Desmond to destroy the pillars supporting the building, here and here,” he said pointing to two pillars, “it’ll give me time to plant discs in the remaining pillars and have Superboy and Phoenix break some as well. Afterward, KF will bait him into the center, where most debris will drop. There, we can have Aqualad lay a pool of water, electrifying him in place, while I detonate my discs. Got it?”

“Got it,” both KF and I said before he ran off to grab Desmond’s attention from Superboy and Aqualad.

I flew to my designated pillar and started charging a large orb of chaotic magic, before sending it off into the pillar. It didn’t quite destroy it, but I punched it and flew off after it broke.

It looked like everyone had gotten the memo as Superboy was destroying a pillar and Aqualad was pouring water where Robin had drawn a large X in chalk. Kid Flash slid on the water, baiting the beast to charge, but it didn’t get far as Superboy jumped from nowhere and struck him into the pool of water. He tried to get up but Aqualad had dipped his hands into the water and started dumping his electricity into him.

With that, Robin commanded, “Move!” and we ran towards the exit. We weren’t able to get to it as the explosions went off, but with everyone around me, I commanded,  _ “Reirrab, tcetorp su! (Barrier, protect us!)”  _ and threw my arms outward. A red-tinted dome soon enveloped us as the rubble fell. 

Superboy and Aqualad had instinctively jumped on Robin and Kid Flash, but had looked up when they felt nothing fall on them. Getting up off Robin and Kid Flash, they looked around at my dome. Kid Flash and Robin did as well as they were free, with Kid Flash saying “Whoa,” in awe.

“I didn’t… know you... could… do that,” Robin said excitedly towards me, as he was trying to catch his breath.

With my arms still stretched out at my sides, I said struggling, “Never needed to do this on patrols. You guys will have to catch the rubble above us when I drop this.” A bead of sweat was working its way down my face as I focused to keep the barrier up.

With nods, Superboy and Aqualad braced for the two pieces directly above us. I dropped the barrier a second later, falling to my knees. Both heaved the rubble off, revealing a buried Desmond behind us.

“See?” asked Kid as he grabbed our attention and pointing upwards, “The Moon.”

Above, a full moon shined down on us. A moment later, Superman slowly came, descending in front of us. Behind him, looked like every member of the League as well. I had never seen most of them this close, only Batman and Zatara. Speaking of which, he had descended on a disc of light with Kent. Uh oh.

Green Lantern, the darker-toned one, flew down with the non-flying heroes on his green light platform. Black Canary was here too? Ted would never let me this one down if she told.

Batman walked forward, standing behind Superman, as Superboy walked up. He pointed to the ‘S’ on his solar suit, making Superman go wide-eyed and then steeling his face. 

“Is that what I think it is?” Batman asks.

Stepping up, Kid Flash put his hand to block his mouth from Superboy and said, “He doesn't like being called an ‘it’.” I’m sure it didn’t do anything with super-hearing and all.

“I'm Superman's clone!” Superboy yelled, gaining faces of shock from everyone else around.

“Start talking,” Batman ordered, squinting at us.

“Uhm, you guys have fun with that. I just remembered I had something to do,” I said turning around. I didn’t even get a step away when Batman ordered, “Stay.”

Sighing, I turned around while Robin started explaining everything. We all cut in once and a while to fill in, but didn’t speak much.

We finished the explanation and Batman simply walked towards the other leaguers. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

Zatara and Kent had taken me aside after we finished our explanations.

“What were you thinking!?,” came Zatara, whisper-yelling.

I could only rub the back of my head.

“Cut him some slack, he did good work today,” said Kent, “Although, you missed out on dinner and that fireworks show. Went to stop a small fire and you go missing for 10 hours. Only you, only you.”

I let out a small chuckle and promised, “I’ll make it up to you. I swear.”

Zatara shook his head and sighed, “As long as you are safe, my boy. We will talk about this later. Why don’t you speak to your new friends? I’ll try to sort this out with Batman.” 

Kent nodded in agreement, while I nodded in response, moving back towards the team.

Shortly after, both Green Lanterns and Hawks, along with Captain Atom, flew off with Desmond.

No one had said a word when I returned, but Superboy had been eyeing Superman, who was speaking to Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman. Manhunter seemed to notice and put his hand on Superman’s shoulder, nodding towards Superboy. 

He slowly walked over, sighing, and awkwardly said, “We'll, uh, we'll figure something out for you. The League will, I mean. For now I better make sure they get the Blockbuster creature squared away.” He turned and flew off not even a second later.

Batman, Flash, and Aquaman came walking towards us. Zatara and Kent were standing a distance behind. 

“Cadmus will be investigated, all 52 levels but let's make one thing clear-” Batman started, but was cut off by Flash.

“You should have called.”

“End results aside, we're not happy,” Batman continued, “You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again.” Well technically I didn't do any of those things, well maybe except for endangering lives, but my point still stands.

“I am sorry, but we will,” countered Aqualad, defiantly.

“Aqualad, stand down,” tried Aquaman, but Aqualad shut him down.

“Apologies, my king, but no,” said Aqualad, “We did good work here tonight, the work you trained us to do. Together, on our own, we forged something powerful, important.” 

“If this is about your treatment at the Hall, the three of you-” started Flash, but Kid was quick to correct him. 

“The five of us, and it's not.” I didn’t even know what happened at the hall.

“Batman, we're ready to do what you taught us, or why teach us at all?” Robin reasoned with Batman.

I couldn’t believe this. Were they really trying to keep them from doing what they had been training years for? For what they strived for?

“You train them to fight crime, yet you shield them when it gets too dark, as if they were children,” I spoke out.

“Why let them tell us what to do?” Superboy questioned, “It's simple. Get on board or get out of the way.”

We all looked at him but quickly turned defiantly towards the three mentors.

Batman simply squinted before saying, “Three days. If this is what you really want, meet me in three days. Your mentors will guide.”

* * *

**|Mount Justice, Happy Harbour, RI**

**|July 8, 2010, 8:04 EDT**

Three days had passed. I returned with Kent to the Tower of Fate. I wasn’t able to contact Robin or Kid Flash, but the night before the 8th, Zatara had called. He said he’d be picking me up in the morning. The days before that had been restless, but Kent wasn’t too hard on me. I took him out for dinner the day after. Zatara was understanding but a little upset that I put myself in danger like that. He told Zatanna and I got quite the angry phone call for endangering myself. 

He had picked me up in the morning and we flew to Boston, only to land in an alley. Before I could even ask why, he walked into a seemingly dysfunctional telephone booth and said, “These are zeta-tube stations. They are hidden in plain sight and are used to transport the League around the world. You are not registered so I will have to go ahead and override. Walk in around five seconds after me.”

I simply nodded, It wasn’t the most outlandish idea after all. A few seconds after he stepped in, a bright light came from the booth. I followed after and was transported into some large open hall, with Zatara in front of me. He led me to the center, where everyone was already located, along with other Leaguers.

Batman simply nodded when we both got to the center, and began, “This cave was the original secret sanctuary of the Justice League. We're calling it into service again. Since you five are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you'll do it on League terms.” He walked around as he talked and looked towards Red Tornado and Black Canary, continuing with, “Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor. Black Canary's in charge of training. I will deploy you on missions.”

Robin, who had sunglasses on inside for some reason, spoke up saying, “ _ Real _ missions?”

Batman stepped up and replied, “Yes, but covert.”

“The League will still handle the obvious stuff. There's a reason we have these big targets on our chest,” said Flash from behind Kid Flash, pointing at his lighting bolt.

“But Cadmus proves the bad guys are getting smarter. Batman needs a team that can operate on the sly,” Aquaman continued. 

“The six of you will be that team,” Batman simply states.

“Cool! Wait,” Robin starts before flatly saying, “Six?” 

There were only five of us to begin with. I looked around counting us just to make sure I wasn’t imagining anything. Turning around though, Martian Manhunter stood with a girl around our age. She had a similar skin tone to Manhunter. Martian as well I assumed.

“This is the Martian Manhunter's niece. Miss Martian,” Batman introduced.

She gave a small wave and shyly replied, “Hi.”

Kid Flash looked down at Robin and murmured, “Liking this gig more every minute,” only for me to elbow him in the side. He took it in stride and stepped up saying, “Uh welcome aboard, I'm Kid Flash.” He continued introductions with, “That’s Robin, Phoenix, Aqualad,” pointing to each of us as he introduced. He quickly followed up with, “It's cool if you forget their names.”

“I'm honored to be included,” she replied, as we all went forward to greet her. All except Superboy, Robin and I noticed, but I spoke up saying, “Come on Supes, come meet Miss M. Experiences, remember?”

We stepped apart for Superboy as he walked in front of Miss Martian, and she somehow changed her shirt to black and removed her cape, saying, “I like your t-shirt.” 

Superboy’s frown turned upside down and we all huddled around him. Except for Aqualad who was next to Manhunter.

“Today is the day,” he simply said, as we all nodded along in agreement.

What an eventful summer this was looking like it would be.


	6. Chapter 2: The Tour

**|Shadowcrest, New York**

**|July, 10, 12:11 EDT**

“Nice of you to finally arrive. Did you bring the food?” greeted Zatara as he opened the door.

“Of course I did. Did you think I’d let us all starve? Zatanna would have another reason to try to kill me,” I joked back.

He gave a chuckle before leading me to the dining area.

It had been two days after the introductions at Mount Justice, six after the incident at Cadmus. Batman had given me a communicator so I could contact the other since I couldn’t really call upon the others. Speaking of communications though, I hadn’t talked much to Zatanna over the week, not that I was ignoring her. Zatara said he hadn’t told her everything, leaving her to me to quell instead. What a sneaky old man. I assumed I would have to do that explanation today. It couldn’t be helped as I needed to speak to Zatara today anyway because we hadn’t gotten the chance to talk much after our meeting at Mount Justice.

Arriving at the dining area, I had set down the bag I was carrying and pulled out 3 smaller, paper bags. Each one had a burger, my favorite of all foods from the mortal realm. It was the one I favored the most when Winston would make them.

“I got us burgers if you don’t mind,” I stated.

“Not at all,” he replied, “but could you grab Zatanna from her room? I know you’ve been  _ dying _ to explain things to her.” He gave me a smirk when he finished. 

I gave him a flat stare before walking off to the stairs. He could be a real pain sometimes. I should probably be spending more time with Ted than Zatara if anything. At least the only pain he gives me is from his punches.

Sighing as a walked up to her door, I knocked without saying anything.

She opened the door saying, “Yes, da-” but stopped once she saw me.

I simply raised a brow at her and said, “Well hello to you too, Zee.”

She quickly jabbed me in the arm, making me wince a bit. Might’ve taken her to Ted’s too many times.

“Ow!” I yelled, “What was that for?”

“That’s for almost getting yourself killed… again,” she answered while rolling her eyes.

“C’mon, that was one time in Star City. I’ve been pretty safe so far since then.”

“You can explain it later because right now I smell burgers and I’m pretty hungry,” she said walking past me.

I could only shake my head and follow. The Zatara family was something alright.

“Ahh, Zatanna, Claude, I have to go. The League has called for me so I will join you both afterward,” Zatara said as we arrived.

I gave him a suspicious look but he quickly walked out before I could question him. Zatanna and I seated ourselves across each other of the long dining table, grabbing a bag for each of us.

“So, start explaining. Dad hasn’t said much and you haven’t either,” she practically ordered before taking a bite of her burger.

Sighing, I went on to explain what happened on Independence Day, from my planned evening with Kent to meeting Robin and the others and finally the lab and fight with the now designated Blockbuster. She didn’t say anything throughout and I didn’t know if I should’ve been scared or not. 

Once I finished with that part, I took the last bite of my burger that I had been eating throughout the story.

“And three days later as Batman said, we formed a team. It consists of the five of us that were there at Cadmus and Martian Manhunter’s niece, Miss Martian. We’re supposed to be covert ops basically. We haven’t gotten a mission yet but it’s supposed to be soon, or so I hope. I’ve never really done much besides patrol so I’m kinda looking forward to this team business. I was also thinking about, I don’t know, asking your dad to let you join? It would be nice, it’s what we’ve been trained for. What  _ he’s _ been training you for,” I concluded with. It reminded me of what Robin said, it’s what they taught us to do after all.

“I-I don’t know. You know how dad is. He’s super protective of me. It would take a lot of convincing, and I mean  _ a lot _ ,” Zatanna responded, sounding a bit unsure. She had finished eating too and I wiped her hands, setting them in front of her.

“It wouldn’t be anything new. I’ve been taking you out on patrol with me once a week for ages now. You’ve shown you can handle it. I  _ know  _ you can handle it. I’ll ask him after we’ve been on a mission or two first, so don’t worry about,” I reassured as I put my hand on hers.

She sighed and said, “Whatever you say.” She grew a mischievous smirk a second later and continued with, “But now that you’re on an official team, are you finally going to get a real superhero outfit and all? You’ve been going out in that basic getup and only changed the coloring just recently.”

I honestly didn’t know. It seemed like the appropriate thing to do. I guess I would have to ask the League to make me one. I was growing tired of my getup anyway.

“I’ll have to ask, but I guess little miss fashionista had something in mind?” I replied as I scratched the back of my head.

“Well duh. We can’t have you going out doing superhero things with the League dressed up like that,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

I gave her a flat stare and said, “You literally run around in formal wear and tights.”

“Yeah but I’m a magician and it’s fashionable, unlike your costume,” she countered.

With a sigh, I responded, “Whatever you have planned better not have a cape. After patrolling with my coat, I realized how much of a hassle it is having something dangling from my back.”

“Oh, this is gonna be fun,” she said mischievously, “Let’s start simple, colors?”

This was gonna be a long evening.

* * *

**|Mount Justice, Rhode Island**

**|July, 18, 11:16 EDT**

It was a Sunday, almost two weeks after our first meeting at Mount Justice. Robin had contacted me a few days ago asking me to come today to persuade Red Tornado to give us a mission. It didn’t sound likely but it was better than nothing and there hasn’t been anything even after two weeks.

**_Recognized: Robin B-01, Kid Flash B-03, Phoenix B-04_ **

Robin, Kid Flash, and I had arrived at the same time, all planned of course. In the center of the room stood Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Superboy, who were all looking at the holo-computer. We were all unmasked and in civilian clothes, with my donning my basic clothes and coat. The three of us ran up to then, with Robin and Kid Flash going a bit quicker than I. Guess they really wanted to find out about Red Tornado.

“Did you ask him?” excitedly questioned Robin.

“What did he say?” followed an equally excited Kid Flash.

Calmly looking over, Aqualad stated, “He’s arriving now.”

The still energetic Kid Flash ran off after asking, “What’re we waiting for!?” with Robin running after him.

Aqualad and I decided to walk with Superboy trailing behind us. Miss M decided to fly after all of us. I probably would have too but I wasn’t really expecting that much.

We went through the halls and ended up at the “front door” which was really a ramp that descended down from the base of the mountain. 

Walking out, Red Tornado was in the sky, landing as we met up with him.

“Red Tornado!” exclaimed Kid Flash.

“Greetings. Is there a reason you intercept me outside the cave?” asked the monotone robot.

“We hoped you had a mission for us,” spoke up Aqualad.

“Mission assignments are the Batman’s responsibility,” Red Tornado simply stated.

“But it's been over a week and nothing-” Robin tried complaining, but was quickly cut off as Red Tornado raised his hand and spoke.

“You'll be tested soon enough. For the time being, simply enjoy each other's company.”

“This team is not a social club,” Aqualad strongly countered.

“No, but I am told social interaction is an important team-building exercise,” Red Tornado countered back. He walked away while he said, “Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourself with the cave.”

“I didn’t expect this to go any different but now it just feels like they’re babying us all over again,” I said as I watching Red Tornado walk away.

Watching Red as well, Robin angrily questioned“Does he really think we’re falling for this?”

“Oh, I’ll find out,” excitedly stated Miss M. She put on a look of concentration and stared at Red Tornado 

**_Recognized: Red Tornado 1-6_ **

With a sigh she spoke again, “I'm sorry, I forgot he's a machine, inorganic. I… cannot read his mind.”

I nodded at her statement, he didn’t have a soul either. It was expected of a machine, but weird seeing as he was as intelligent or even more so than the average person.

“Nice try, though,” Kid Flash said as he stepped towards Miss Martin. With a smile, he followed up with, “So, uh, you know what I'm thinkin’ right now?”

I rolled my eyes as Robin answered, “We all know what you're thinking now,” with an elbow into the speedster’s back.

He let out a small ‘ow’ that was mostly ignored.

“And now we tour the clubhouse,” spoke up a sour Aqualad.

“Well, Superboy and I live here. We can play tour guides,” offered Miss Martian, looking towards Superboy. We all looked at him as well but he spoke up for the first time today.

“Don’t look at me.”

Kid Flash was quick to reply with “We won’t. A private tour sounds much more fun,” as he looked back to Miss M.

“Sh-she never said private,” stuttered out Robin.

“A tour would be nice, we didn’t really get a look around the first time,” I cut in. 

“Team building. We’ll all go,” agreedAqualad, leaving no room for argument.

“So… this would be the front door,” started Miss Martian, pointing to the door we had just exited from.

“This hall leads to the hanger, the largest part of the cave, the docking area, power generator, zeta-tubes, and elevator up towards the upper levels” continued Miss Martian as she led us through.

“But it also leads to here,” she said as we stepped onto a small cliffside, “our back door. The cave is actually the entire mountain.”

After showing us the back door, she led us back into the hall and in front of the hanger, where Kid Flash followed up explaining, “It was hollowed out and reinforced by Superman and Green Lantern in the early days of the League.” 

“Then why abandon it for the Hall of Justice?” asked Superboy.

“The cave’s secret location was… compromised,” revealed Aqualad.

“So much for a secret base,” I murmured, although just loud enough for everyone to hear.

“So they traded it in for a tourist trap? Yeah. That makes sense,” Superboy said sarcastically.

“If the Bad Guys know of the cave, then we must be on constant alert,” stated Miss Martian, raising a finger into the air.

“The Bad Guys know we know they know about the place,” Robin said, taking her hand and placing his other one on top, “so they’d never think to look here.”

“Uh,” interrupted Kid Flash while he removed Robin’s hand from Miss Martian’s, “he means we’re hiding in plain sight.

“Ah, that’s much clearer,” said Miss Martian, scratching her head. She was probably confused and still learning Earth phrases but I’m sure she’d get it eventually. 

Before I could clarify for her, Superboy cut in after taking two sniffs, stating “I smell smoke.”

With a look of horror, Miss Martian gasped and exclaimed, “My cookies!” before flying off down the hall.

We walked in as she was pulling out a tray of burnt cookies from the oven. She looked down at her burnt cookies and said, “I was trying Grammy Jones’ recipe from episode 17 of-” but she cut herself off with an awkward chuckle and a “Nevermind.”

“I bet they’d have tasted great,” Robin reassured her and grabbing her attention, “He doesn’t seem to mind.”

Looking back towards the cookies, we could see Kid Flash eating a cookie with two more already in his hand. There were charred completely black. How he stomached that, I would never now.

“I have a serious metabolism,” he offered with his mouth stuffed. He sounded like Stitch from that one movie with a small blue alien that Zatanna had made me watch.

“I’ll… make more?” said Miss Martian, unsure of how to approach the situation. 

“It was sweet of you to make any,” reassured Aqualad.

“I’ll be looking forward to your next batch,” I told her, putting a small smile on my face.

“Thank you both, Aqualad and Phoenix,” said Miss Martian as she lowered her head.

“We’re off duty. Call me Kaldur’ahm. Actually, my friends call me Kaldur,” offered Aqualad or Kaldur, now.

I nodded and followed with, “My name’s Claude, short and a single syllable.”

“I'm Wally,” said Kid Flash as he leaned over the counter, “See? I already trust you with my secret ID, unlike Mr. Dark Glasses over here. Batman's forbidden Boy Wonder from telling anyone his real name.”

Robin simply frowned and put his hands on his hips.

“Mine’s no secret. It’s M’gann M’orzz. But you can call me Megan. It’s an Earth name, I’m on Earth now,” stated an excited M’gann.

Superboy, who was leaning on the counter behind us, had turned to leave but stopped with a grunt. He turned and looked back at M’gann with wide, shocked eyes and quickly screamed, “Get out of my head!”

_ “What’s wrong? I don’t understand,” _ I heard her say in my mind as I put a hand to my head in discomfort. Robin had gripped the counter as Wally and Kaldur gripped their heads too.

“Everyone on Mars communicates telepathically.”

Aqualad was quick to catch his bearings and ordered, “M’gann, stop,” which ended the link. M’gann looked shocked and confused but he continued, “Things are different on Earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy.”

“The mind is a very sacred place here on Earth. Not that it isn’t on Mars, but you get what I’m saying,” I let out softly.

“Besides, Cadmus’ creepy little psychic G-gnomes left a bad taste in his brain,” cut in Wally as he tried to lighten the mood. He said the last part with his hand covering his mouth from Superboy. 

“I-I didn’t mean to-” started M’gann, but she was quickly cut off by Superboy.

“Just stay out,” Superboy loudly growled, enunciating each word.

He walked over to the closest couch while M’gann looked down shamefully. She quickly looked up though and exclaimed, “Hello Megan! I know what we can do,” and quickly flew out of the kitchen.

Robin just shrugged and we followed her out. I stood behind for a moment a stared at Superboy, who was trying really hard to not look in our direction. I walked away after a second, but M’gann had circled back to check in on him. I didn’t stay to listen, but rather followed the rest towards the elevator. M’gann and Superboy came in after and she pressed the button to head down.

After the elevator doors open she led us to the docking area in front of this red, egg-shaped pod and said, “It’s my Martian Bioship.”

“Cute. Not aerodynamic, but cute,” offered a skeptical Wally.

“It’s at rest, silly,” she replied with a bright smile and then reached her hand out towards the ship and continued, “I’ll wake it.’

As she finished speaking, the pod started growing from the sides, expanding two slanted wings backward and extending two prongs forward. It levitated, opening its doors and extending a ramp after spinning to face us.

“Well, are you coming?” asked M’gann as she looked back towards.

We all looked at each other for a second before following along.

Walking into the ship, I saw six seats grow from the floor, two to each side, one for the pilot in the center, and one in front of the pilot’s seat. 

“Strap in for launch,” she said, prompting Wally to sit left of M’gann in the pilot seat and Robin to her left, leaving me, Kaldur, and Superboy to take the front seats. As we sat down, seatbelts formed from the chair and crossed our torsos.

Once everyone was seated, she said, “Red Tornado, please open the bay doors.” 

As the doors opened, two orbs formed under her hands. I guess they were what controlled the ship. We flew out a moment after, doing a barrel roll into a hard right.

“Incredible!” exclaimed Robin after she straightened our path.

Wally looked toward M’gann and said dreamingly, “She sure is,” but quickly caught himself with, “I-I mean the ship, which like all ships, is a she.”

“Fast with his feet, not so much with his mouth,” joked an amused Robin.

It prompted a “Dude!” out of Wally.

Back in the front with Kaldur and Superboy, Kaldur whispered “I may not have psychic powers, but I can guess what you’re thinking,” to Superboy, “You overreacted and you don’t know how to apologize. Just say sorry.”

Superboy initially looked from the corner of his eye but had turned away after that. I put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “We know you didn’t mean it. Look at it like this, saying sorry is a new experience for you and you remember what I said about experiences right?”

He didn’t respond again, still looking at the outside world flying by.

“He’ll come around,” I heard Robin whispering to reassure M’gann.

“He doesn't seem to like me much,” replied the saddened M’gann.

“You guys remember he has  _ super-hearing _ , right?” cut in Wally.

If he heard it or not, Superboy didn’t react.

Changing the topic, Robin spoke out and asked, “Hey, how ‘bout showing us a little bit of Martian Shapeshifting?”

Turning around, we watched as M’gann turned into a female Robin in costume with a pixie cut. She then spun around and turned into a female Kid Flash. It was disturbing, to say the least.

“Is it wrong that I think I'm hot?” questioned Wally, dreamy-eyed again.

“Yes, very much so,” I replied flatly.

Robin started clapping and said, “Impressive but you know you’re not exactly gonna fool anyone with those.”

M’gann let out a soft smile and sat down, replying with, “Mimicking boys is a lot harder.”

“And your clothes?” Kaldur asked.

“They're organic like the ship,” answered M’gann as she tugged on her jacket, “They respond to my mental commands.”

Looking away, Superboy said, “As long as they're the only ones.”

It made M’gann look down with a saddened look.

“Can you do that ghosting through walls thing Manhunter does?” questioned Wally.

“Density shifting? No, it's a very advanced technique…” replied the still saddened M’gann.

Robin leaned toward M’gann and said, “Flash can vibrate his molecules right through a wall, when he tries it, bloody nose,” trying to lighten her mood. 

It prompted another “Dude!” from Wally.

It seemed to work as she said brightly said, “Here’s something I can do,” as the ship became almost invisible, “Camouflage Mode.”

A second after Red Tornado spoke through the comms, “Red Tornado to Miss Martian. An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate covertly. I’m sending coordinates.”

“Received. Adjusting course,” replied M’gann before the link ended.

Robin scoffed before saying, “Tornado’s keeping us busy again.”

“Well, a simple fire led you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert,” M’gann said trying to encourage us. She hovered in front of the power plant as she finished her sentence.

“I think I know the cause,” said Superboy looking out the window.

Following his line of sight, we could see a tornado heading right towards the ship. Not a moment later, we were sucked into the tornado, but M’gann used the spin of the tornado to launch us out shortly after. She landed the bioship and we immediately dropped down, with the tornado still on a rampage on the other side of the parking lot of the plant.

“Robin, are tornadoes common in New England?” asked Kaldur, but was met with no response. Looking around to where he just was, Kaldur asked “Robin?” but no one was there.

“H-he was just here,” M’gann stated.

Stretching out my soul sense, I could feel his distinct feel from within the power plant.

“I sense him inside,” I told the others.

After I spoke, the windows of the power plant were blown out, which prompted everyone to run to get inside.

We arrived only to see Robin laying flat on the ground.

“Who’s your new friend?” questioned Superboy as he landed beside him.

“Didn't catch his name but he plays kinda rough,” replied Robin.

Looking over, we could see the villain, a person wearing a red and black metal suit with blue tubes sticking from the shoulders and forearms.

“My apologies. You may address me as Mister Twister,” he said before sending jets of wind at Superboy and eventually sending him into a wall.

Wally put on his goggles and we looked towards Twister and then back at each other. With just a nod, we, excluding Robin, charged at Twister. Wally went first, speeding at him and then flipping at him feet first. Before he could impact, he was pushed and redirected outside by the wind. Kaldur, M’gann, and I tried to approach but we’re sent back similarly to Superboy.

“I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not, however, expecting children,” provoked Twister. 

“We're not children!” Robin yelled as he launched a small bomb and disk. The bomb dispersed the wind that was shot out by Twister, leaving room for the disc to implant itself on Twister’s chest. 

“Objectively, you are,” he stated before flicking off the disc. It exploded after and he asked, “Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing.”

Robin’s little distraction bought us enough time to get up and regather. The five of us now stood facing Twister again.

“Well, we hate to see you disturbed. Let's see if you're more turbed once we kick your can!” replied.

Not wasting a second, M’gann stepped up and telekinetically pulled the end off of a steam pipe, billowing steam all over Twister. Superboy leaped up to slam down on Twister but was suspended in the air before impact by blasts of air. He was sent back, colliding with a flying M’gann, sending them both back. Kaldur, Robin, and I rushed past them, with me flying at him from above, but we stopped when two vortexes spun in front of us. I was sucked out of the air and Kaldur and Robin were spun around. We were all reeling back on the floor.

“Indeed, that was quite turbing. Thank you.” Twister said as he flew outside.

Groaning I got up with the others, asking “Everyone alright?”

They all nodded and I started running outside, with them following behind. We got outside right as Wally was being flung into a wall by a tornado. The dust settled but we could see M’gann telekinetically holding Wally suspended in the air.

“I got you, Wally,” she said as we all stepped out of the dust.

“Ohh,” he said realizing he wasn’t squished into a wall, “Thanks.”

With that, he straightened and dropped onto the ground.

“I would have thought you had all learned your limitations by now,” Twister goaded.

“What do you want?!” Aqualad yelled in anger.

“Isn’t it obvious?,” he asked, floating into the air, “I’m waiting for a real hero.”

Looking over his shoulder Kaldur ordered, “Read his mind, find his weakness,” to M’gann.

In confusion, M’gann hesitantly said, “I thought I wasn’t supposed to do that.”

“It’s okay with the bad guys,” Robin reassured.

She closed her eyes in focus and said “Nothing. I’m getting nothing.” That means he either has a mental barrier or was not living.

A second later, she hit her head with her palm and exclaimed, “Hello Megan! Mr. Twister is Red Tornado in disguise. He’s inorganic, an android. And how many androids do you know that generate tornadoes?” I pushed my senses and couldn’t sense a soul either, so it probably was an android.

“I don’t sense a soul either,” I confirmed for the others.

“Red Tornado sent us here!” shouted Kaldur.

“After saying we’d be ‘tested soon enough.’ This is his test, something to keep us busy,” Robin continued in anger.

“Speedy called it,” Wally said, hanging his head sadly, “We’re a joke.”

Kaldur punched his palm in frustration and walked towards Twister with everyone else following suit. It made sense, although something felt wrong in the back of my head.

“We know who you are and what you want,” Robin yelled at Twister.

“So let’s end this,” Kaldur pushed.

“Consider it ended,” Twister simply replied, forming a helix of spiraling wind that created a large, dark cloud above us. I didn’t remember this being on the list of things Red Tornado could do.

Tired with the antics, Kaldur yelled out, “An impressive show but we will not indulge you. We will not engage.”

Lighting cracked after Kaldur spoke, prompting Wally to say, “Uh, can Red Tornado do that?” He definitely could not, not that I knew of anyway. Kent only told me about his ability over wind, not lighting.

“You think I'm Tornado? Ironic,” he stated before a large lighting strike hit in front of us.

Thinking quickly, I summoned a simple magic circle barrier to block the debris and blast of force in front. Everyone had to cover their face from the dirt that flew up but Superboy shook it off and jumped into the air in rage. He didn’t do anything though as he was immediately sent flying down, creating a deep crater beside us. It knocked us all off our feet before Twister started descending on us.

M’gann was the first to get up and ordered “Everyone quiet,” as a large shadow covered us, larger than Twister who was hovering a small distance above us. Everyone did so without question and I simply raised a brow before Twister started speaking again.

“I won’t deny that you children have power but playing hide-and-seek with you will not help me achieve my objectives, so stay concealed. If you confront me again, I will show no mercy,” he threatened before flying away.

We could only watch in confusion as we went off into the distance.

“What happened?” questioned Wally.

“I placed the Bioship between us,” M’gann explained.

With a yell and a grunt, Superboy had punched up dirt and walked up to M’gann, “And that’s supposed to make it right? You tricked us into thinking Twister was Red Tornado.”

We had all gotten up at this point and Kaldur had moved to defend her saying, “She didn't do it on purpose.”

“It-it was a rookie mistake,” Robin stated, “We shouldn't have listened.”

Kid Flash had his hands in his pockets, looking down awkwardly, “You are pretty inexperienced. Hit the showers. We'll take it from here.”

I hadn’t said a thing yet, only watching, but I had to speak up now, it wasn’t really fair.

“Enough of this,” I shouted, catching their attention, “You can’t call it a rookie mistake because we all fell for it, even me. I pushed out my senses confirming her, remember? Also, don’t pull that inexperienced card, Superboy is like a few months old. The only way for them to gain experience is to let them continue with us, not push them away when it gets tough.” I was practically scolding them at this point.

They all took a second to think while I helped M’gann up, who had a grateful look on her face. 

Kaldur spoke up first, “Claude is correct, we must not push our teammates away.”

“Exactly, now we stick together as a team and we make a plan. Now, what do we know so far?” I continued, giving everyone a flat stare.

“Twister said he had an objective and he was waiting on a real hero. If we’re going off what M’gann and Claude said, he’s also inorganic, potentially a robot. A robot that also controls the wind, do you think he’s trying to bait out Red Tornado?” concluded Robin, with a hand to his chin.

“Of course, he has the same color scheme and powers. It’s a direct call out,” realized Wally.

“Should we call Tornado to aid us then?” questioned Kaldur.

I shook my head, “No, this is our test. We prove ourselves here.”

“Uhm… I might have a plan then,” spoke up M’gann.

We all looked at her and Superboy was about to say something but I cut him off with a glare. He had said enough today in anger, it was better to stop him before he said anything regretful.

“What if I shapeshift into Red Tornado and we lure him to us instead?” she offered.

“But I thought shapeshifting to males was difficult and we can’t create tornados as he does so the illusion would be incomplete,” Robin pointed out.

“Shapeshifting to Red Tornado’s form would be easier as he is a robot,” M’gann assured.

“I can help with the tornadoes,” said Wally, “I can spin fast enough to create a wind funnel like a tornado. We can pretend that M’gann is controlling it.”

“That does not help us defeat him though,” Kaldur cut in.

“We make him believe he beat Red Tornado and catch him by surprise. And as much as I trust a Wally tornado, I don’t think it would beat one of his,” I offered.

“While he is off guard we could attack him, unlike before where he was prepared to repel our attacks,” he quickly realized.

Robin continued the thought, “When he’s not suspecting a thing, someone could land a good hit, leaving him open for attack by the rest of us. Actually, he’s headed towards a beachside community, Kaldur could lay in wait in the water once we catch him off guard,”

“I can blind him with my fire to create a larger window of opportunity, we just need to position accordingly.”

“I’ll beat that hunk of metal into the dirt,” Superboy growled.

Kaldur spoke out and said, “We should proceed in the bioship using its camouflage. You can drop me in the water and the others a little bit away from Twister, leaving you and Wally to descend and create the distraction.”

Everyone nodded and we proceeded to walk back into the bioship.

* * *

Twister had been wreaking havoc among the buildings and boats nearby, completely destroying homes and sending boats flying into the air.

We were all in position. M’gann had dropped us off a small distance away from the community and moved to drop Aqualad into the water. At the moment, we were waiting for M’gann to begin so we could follow up. Wally had already sped ahead, ready to create his wind funnels when M’gann appeared. Robin, Superboy, and I were slightly behind, hiding behind cover.

_ “Can you guys here me?”  _ I heard M’gann in my head.

_ “What did we tell you!”  _ mentally shouted Superboy.

_ “I thought it would be useful to set up a mental link for all of us to communicate while separated,”  _ M’gann replied lowly.

_ “It’s alright, it’s actually a pretty good idea since. Just tell us when you begin,”  _ I responded. No one else complained.

_ “Going in now,”  _ she told us.

“Twister! You asked for a real hero, so here I am,” M’gann said in Tornado’s voice, floating down from the bioship.

“I was beginning to believe you would never show up,” confronted Twister.

“I’m here now,” she replied, pushing a hand out as Wally sped to create a tornado without being spotted.

He spun at Twister, who glided away before retaliating with a tornado of his own.

“We are evenly matched, Twister,” goaded M’gann.

“No, Tornado, we are not,” he said sending a pure beam of lightning at M’gann. She dodged making it look real but fell down after it struck the ground sending up dirt.

Landing next to M’gann, he said, “Remain still, android. The reprogramming won’t take long,” as wire came from his fingers and attached to M’gann’s/Tornado’s head.

“Longer than you might think,” we heard her say in her own voice.

_ “Everyone now,”  _ M’gann shouted.

Flying into the air, I sent a fireball straight into his face, making him stumble back into Wally, who was spinning and creating another wind funnel. He flung him into a waiting Superboy, who jumped forward to grab his arm, beating into his chest. With a final grunt, he sent him flying into the water. Aqualad, who was waiting right below the water, created an explosion somehow, sending him right back out of the water without a right arm. He fell down only to be caught mid-air my M’gann’s telepathic grip, where she ripped off his remaining arm and left him floating. Robin, who had revealed that he always had his utility belt with him earlier, threw explosive disks that sent him careening back to the Earth.

Everyone gathered on his location, where he knelt, armless, on the ground. The suit opened up, revealing a small man. He fell forward onto the ground stuttering out, “Foul. I-I call foul.” Wait, a man? I didn’t sense a soul in there the whole time?

M’gann walked forward, grabbing a boulder of debris telekinetically and dropped it on the man.

“You guys said there wasn’t a soul or mind in there right?” Wally awkwardly asked.

The others looked at M’gann and me worriedly.

“Shouldn’t have been,” I said not really giving an answer.

“Uh, is that a yes or a no?” he questioned again.

I didn’t need to answer as M’gann lifted the boulder, revealing the broken body of an android.

“See? We were right. That’s why I couldn’t read his mind.” she said after confirming our statements.

I let out a shrugged and just said, “Have a little trust, it goes a long way.”

We all walked up to the pile and Wally picked up an eyeball that had been separated. “Cool. Souvenir.”

“We should have had more faith in you,” Kaldur admitted, resting a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah, you rocked this mission,” Wally joked, “Get it? Rocked.”

No one laughed as Wally laughed at his own joke.

“We’re all just turbed you’re on the Team,” Robin comforted.

With a chuckle, M’gann said, “Thanks. Me, too.”

“We should probably report back with this, no?”

Everyone agreed and we boarded the bioship once again.

* * *

We had arrived back at the cave with the remains of the android, which lay scattered on a table that rose up from the mission room floor. The team was huddled around with Red Tornado as Kaldur gave the briefing.

“It was clearly created to sabotage or destroy you,” Kaldur stated.

“Agreed,” Tornado simply replied.

Thinking aloud, I said, “Imagine what would’ve happened if we called you out there.” 

“Call or no call, I would not have helped,” Tornado clarified.

“Why not? Because of the possible danger?” questioned M’gann.

“No. This was your battle. I do not believe it is my role to solve your problems for you. Nor should you solve mine for me,” Tornado simply stated, drawing everyone’s attention.

M’gann continued, saying, “But if you’re in danger…”

“Consider this matter closed,” Red Tornado concluded before walking off.

Wally and Robin walked up and watched as he left, with Wally saying, “Batman, Aquaman, Flash, they'd all have jumped right in to fix things.”

“Guess if we're going to have a babysitter, a heartless machine is exactly what we need,” Robin continued. 

I had started walking towards the two younger boys and Wally exclaimed, “Dude! Harsh.” 

Still walking away, Red Tornado spoke up, “And inaccurate. I have a heart, carbon-steel alloy. I also have excellent hearing.” He had turned around to look at the two for that last part.

Behind the two boys, I gave them both a big unfriendly pat to the backs, slightly knocking them forward. 

Robin let out a small noise before saying, “Right. I'll strive to be... more accurate.”

Grabbing Robin’s shoulder, Kaldur, quite literally, grabbed his attention and reprimanded, “And more respectful.”

Tornado left without another word, leaving the rest of us, excluding M’gann and Superboy, to walk into another hall.

“Speedy was so wrong,” Wally said “This Team thing…”

“Might just work out,” Kaldur finished.

This might be better than I imagined after all.


	7. Chapter 3: Island Mayhem

**|Tower of Fate, Massachusetts**

**|July, 22, 19:27 EDT**

It had been a little under a week after the incident at Happy Harbour when Batman had called, telling us we would have a mission. He said we wouldn’t need to suit up and to meet him at Mount Justice at eight tonight for the mission briefing. 

I was currently changing into some civilian clothes as I had previously prepared to patrol tonight. I had changed into my normal gray shirt, jeans, and coat before walking out to leave. That was before I saw Kent waiting for me in the living room.

“I’m headed out for my mission Kent,” I said stopping in front of him, “I probably won’t be back until late as usual.”

“Oh, I know. Batman told me,” he simply replied.

“Batman told you? He usually doesn’t call unless it’s important,” I stated with a raised brow.

“That’s true, but you’ll understand in a bit. Remember over a year ago when I said I’d give you something special after I gave you your basic gear?”

I nodded, signaling him to continue.

He gave a smirk before going on, “Well I finally got you that something special.”

When he finished he handed me a rectangular box. I looked at the box and back at him suspiciously, prompting him to nod at me to open it. Lifting the lid off, I saw a mask, but not just a normal domino mask. It was made of metal, with a wide shape and two slits over where the holes for the eyes should have been. Examining it closer, I could feel magic coming off it, which made me look back at Kent in confusion.

“What does it do?” I questioned

He chuckled and just replied, “Try it on.”

Grabbing it, I saw that it wasn’t form-fitting to the face like a normal domino mask would be, but was simply a bent piece of metal that was angled. 

“Will it even stay put on my face?” I asked with another raised brow.

“Just hurry up and put it on,” he said while he rolled his eyes.

Not wasting another second, I placed it on my face like any other mask. To my surprise, not only could I see perfectly fine out of it, but it stayed on my face when I let go. Feeling around, the tip of the mask rested on the middle of my nose and angled upward, above my ear, but stopped right before actually reaching it. It covered up to where my eyebrows would have been and then sloped down at a similar angle as the bottom of the mask right between my eyebrows. In the simplest terms, it was a metal v-shaped mask.

“The magic on it binds it to my face and lets me see despite only having two slits in the mask on each eye,” I concluded.

“You would be correct. Only you can take the mask off, it cannot be taken. I made it with the help of Zatara. You’ll understand why I gave it to you now when you go on your little mission,” Kent said, resting his hand on my shoulder.

“Thanks. I can probably guess I look a little menacing with this mask on, but thanks anyway,” I replied, joking slightly, “It’s better than my plain, old domino mask, that’s for sure.”

Chuckling, he let go of my shoulder and started walking away, but not before saying, “Now hurry up, you don’t want to be late on Batman. Trust me.”

* * *

**|Mount Justice, Rhode Island**

**|July, 22, 19:48 EDT**

**_Recognized: Phoenix B-04_ **

I had just flown to the nearest zeta tube instead of teleporting to save energy for the mission. Arriving at the cave, I saw Kaldur, Wally, M’gann, and Superboy waiting in the center of the room dressed in normal clothing. We really needed to get him a name soon, it felt weird referring to him as Superboy all the time.

“Hey guys, Robin not here yet?” I questioned as I walked up to them.

With a small wave, M’gann greeted back, “Hi, Claude.”

“Hello, Claude, and no Robin is not here yet. He will most likely arrive with Batman,” Kaldur replied.

Wally replied with his own, “What’s up,” as he ate chips and Superboy just nodded towards me.

“I see, well I guess that gives us time to talk then. I’ve been meaning to actually talk to you both, Kaldur and M’gann,” 

“Really? What about?” questioned M’gann.

“Your physiologies, Atlantean and Martian respectively, are weak to fire or heat and I’m kind of a walking flamethrower. I thought it would kind of be scary or an anti-synergy for the team,” I stated awkwardly. Good thing I had a fix for that.

“That is correct, both of us are weak to heat. I need constant hydration since I’m above water and heat disperses my hydration quickly. Martians are also extremely sensitive to high temperatures,” explained, motioning towards M’gann.

“Well, you won’t have to worry about the fire if we fight together,” I told them.

That prompted everyone to look at me confusedly.

“My fire is magical in nature. I can control the temperature of my fire to a certain degree if we were to fight together. I can also absorb fire around me if we get in a tough spot, but Kaldur has already seen me do that,” I explained, creating a room temperature fireball in my hand.

In thought, Kaldur responded, “That would prove quite useful,” while M’gann looked intrigued, but a little fearful of the fire. She was gonna say something, but Wally spoke up. 

“Magic? Yeah right,” Wally said dismissively, eating another chip.

“You don’t believe in magic, Wally?” I questioned as we all looked at him.

“Magic is just science we haven’t figured out yet. Everything can be explained by science,” he replied confidently. So he was one of the people then.

“Touch this fireball,” I told him, with a smirk.

“What? So I can get burned? No thank you.”

“I’m being serious. You won’t get burned, I swear. You can even slowly inch your hand towards the fire, I bet you won’t feel a thing.”

With a sigh, he slowly moved his hands toward the fireball. Not feeling the heat as I had controlled it, he put his hand in the center of the fireball. Once he felt nothing he took his hand back and just looked at it, thinking.

“See? Not a thing,” I said smugly, before asking, “Would you guys like to try too?” to Kaldur and M’gann.

Kaldur nodded confidently, reaching his hand into the fireball. Once he felt nothing, he softly said, “Incredible. I’ve never seen magic like this before.”

M’gann had walked up to the fireball as well, slowly moving her hand to feel if there was heat. She originally looked fearful but it slowly turned into amazement as she finally waved her hand through the fire.

“Whoa,” was all she said.

“Explain that one with science, Wally,” I said looking back at him.

He was about to answer but was interrupted.

**_Recognized: Batman 02, Robin B-01_ **

Look at the zeta tubes, we saw Batman and Robin as well as four small cases. I could see Robin was in his civilian clothes too. 

Walking over, Batman ordered, “Team, gather around for mission briefing.”

After he said that, Red Tornado floated down from a small hole that opened from the ceiling, landing next to Batman.

With everyone lined up in front of Batman, he simply turned around and a holoscreen appeared as he started typing. Maps and images appeared and he started to speak.

“Isla Santa Prisca,” he stated, “This island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neurosteroid, a strength-enhancing drug sold under the street name Venom.”

Pulling up images of what looked like a factory, he continued, “The infrared heat signatures indicate that their factory operating at full capacity but all shipments of Venom have inexplicably cut off.” 

Turning around he said, “That’s where this team comes in. This is a covert recon mission only. Observe and report.” He turned again, saying, “If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will,” before changing the screen to a map. 

“The plan requires two drop zones. Drop Zone A will be near the coast of the island, where Aqualad will swim to and loop the motion and heat sensors. This will enable the team to move towards Drop Zone B, where the rest of you will drop. After this, you will rendezvous and observe the factory and then return,” he explained as he looked back at us once again.

“So who's in charge?” asked Robin.

This prompted Batman and Red Tornado to look at each other for a second before Batman looked back at Robin and replied, “Work that out between you.” I could see Robin smiling at that. I guessed he really wanted to lead the team.

“Now for your suits. I asked you all to arrive without them as we’ve made new suits for you all, excluding Miss Martian and Robin. These new suits are built with the new stealth-tech which will change to darker colors once the symbol on the suit is pressed. The cases over there are labeled for each of you,” he said pointing to the cases near the zeta tubes. “Superboy, Phoenix, I’ve taken the liberty of designing new suits for the both of you. All of you have 5 minutes to change and come back. The team will immediately depart afterward.”

So this was what Kent was hinting at. A new mask for a new suit.

Wally had sped to his case, opening it and changed at super-speed, while the rest of us walked towards our cases, all except for Superboy.

Tapping the middle of his suit, Wally exclaimed “Cool!” as the yellow parts turned black. He tapped it again and it returned to normal.

“You getting dressed or what Supey?” asked Wally

“No suit needed,” Superboy replied, looking away.

I grabbed my case and walked towards the locker room with Aqualad to change into our new suits. Once inside, I quickly opened the case. Pulling out the suit in front of me, I saw that it was form-fitting with a red and black color scheme. The upper torso, above the abs, was red. It covered the pectorals and had my phoenix crest without the circle around it in the center. How he got it, I would never know. The shoulder pads were red as well and the suit went and covered a small part of my neck. On the lower torso, it was black, all the way until the belt area which cut off in a “V” shape. The arms were black as well from the end of the shoulder pad to a little past the elbow. The forearms were red and padded like gauntlets, which covered my hands completely. From the belt down, the legs were red all the way, with a black stripe running down both sides of each leg. The suit would end in black as the boots that were fit with the suit were completely black.

I excitedly slipped off my clothes and put on my new suit. Digging through the pocket of my coat I had just taken off, I put my new mask on as well. I put everything in a locker before walking in front of a mirror and tapping the phoenix on my chest. The colors inverted on the suit and the previously crimson red turned to a dark maroon. Finally, I had a real suit. I felt like a new person.

“It suits you,” Aqualad said from behind me, “No pun intended.”

I let out a chuckle before nodding and saying, “Let’s get back to the others. We have a mission to do.”

**|Caribbean Sea**

**|July, 22, 20:48 ECT**

We were all aboard the bioship closing in on Santa Prisca. At the bioships speed, it took almost two hours to get to the island. We all sat in silence, with everyone focused on the mission.

“We’re approaching Santa Prisca,” M’gann announced. No one replied

A few moments later, she stated, “Drop Zone A in 30.” 

Kaldur stepped up from his chair, which receded into the floor, and then pressed his symbol on his belt. His suit soon turned a charcoal black instead of his usual red. He simply said “Ready,” looking back at M’gann.

“Putting bioship into camouflage mode,” was her response.

A circle opened up momentarily on the floor and Kaldur dove down into the water. M’gann slowed down the bioship, waiting for Kaldur’s signal.

“Heat and motion sensors are patched,” Kaldur said on our commlink, “Data is now on a continuous loop. Move in.”

We flew in on Drop Zone B, which M’gann announced before lowering lines. 

The guys clicked the lines onto our belts and Wally and I tapped our symbols to go into stealth mode. 

Turning to M’gann, Wally asked, “How cool is this?” in a sing-songy voice. I merely sighed at his antics but M’gann replied.

“Very impressive,” she said before she morphed her clothing. 

“Uh, that works too,” Wally said, momentarily stunned. He turned to Superboy, saying, “Hey, Supey, not too late to put on the new stealth tech like us,” while pointing between himself and me.

Superboy just returned with his own stoic look, crossing his arms and saying, “No capes, no tights. No offense.” He probably didn’t like suits after the whole Cadmus situation, I couldn’t really blame him.

“It totally works for you,” I heard M’gann say from behind him, “In that, you can totally do good work in those clothes.” She finished with a thumbs up but quickly covered her head with her hood going camouflage when Superboy walked away. I internally chuckle, someone’s a little embarrassed.

Holes open on the floor again and we all drop down, or float down in M’gann’s case. Well except for Superboy because as we landed, we all had to jump away after hearing the whooshing sound of a falling Superboy. When the dust settled where he landed, he was standing in a small crater. 

He simply said, “I knew I didn’t need a line.”

“And yet, creating a seismic event may not have helped us much with the  _ covert _ ,” Robin said from the ground.

“Yeah, I think that might’ve registered on the Richter scale,” I continued, standing up from the ground as well.

On the comms, M’gann radioed, “Aqualad, Drop B is a go.”

Kaldur radioed back a second later, “Head to the factory. I’ll track your GPS and meet you ASAP.”

Robin had pulled out his holocomputer and was looking through the map and replied, “Roger that.”

And with that, we started into the woods towards the factory’s location. We ran the jungle and ended on the side of some cliffs near a waterfall a moment later.

“Did you hear that?” Superboy soft exclaimed.

“Uh, no,” Wally quickly quipped back. “Wait, is this a super-hearing thing?” he said in realization a second later. Of course super-hearing, I forgot about that.

“You do have great ears,” M’gann said dreamily. No one responded and I just internally chuckled again. I couldn’t say for certain but it looked like our resident Martian had a crush.

“Okay, Rob, now what?” Wally questioned turning around. Robin was nowhere in sight once again, “Man, I hate it when he does that.”

Letting out a sigh, I pushed out my senses to find him. I found him amongst the trees above but also something else. There were 10 other souls I could feel further ahead.

“Robin is still in our range above us, but I sense two squads in front of us that are about to meet. Six coming left and four more from the right,” I informed them.

“Superboy, Kid Flash, switch to infrared and confirm,” commanded Kaldur from the comms.

We rushed forward a little bit away from the area they would meet and Kid Flash had his goggles on. 

“It checks out, four bozos coming from my direction,” Wally confirms looking into the jungle.

“I see six on my side. They’re about to meet,” Superboy continued.

Not a moment after that, the two squads started firing at each other in the clearing.

“No super-hearing required now,” Wally joked.

From the comms, Kaldur ordered again, saying “Swing wide. Steer clear.”

Wally wasn’t one to listen though as he ran off after saying, “Yeah, yeah, just as soon as I find Rob.”

“Kid!” I whisper yelled but he was already gone. So much for teamwork.

In his direction, we heard him yell. It sounded like he got hurt but he was clear from the gunfire. Knowing him, he probably wasn’t paying attention and tripped. Since I heard him then the squads below definitely did too.

I sighed before telling Superboy and M’gann, “So much for covert. Let’s go save him before he’s swiss cheese,” and then flew off for the first time today. I hadn’t flown so far since my wings were quite flashy and very noticeable, but it didn’t matter now.

We arrived to see the two squads firing at Wally. One group was led by Bane, the other was just red hooded figures. Superboy immediately went after Bane and started wrestling him, but I flew down and landed behind two of the robed men.

“I really hate cultists, you know,” I told them, catching them by surprise. Before they could act, I punched one in the face and high-kicked the other straight in the forehead.

“What is wrong with you guys?” I heard from Robin on the other side of the clearing, “Remember covert? Why didn’t you follow my lead, vanish into the jungle?”

Kid Flash, who had stopped running from gunfire and fighting one of the larger gunmen, said, “That’s what you were doing? Way to fill us in. We’re mind readers you know.”

He was cut off at the end though as M’gann had telekinetically thrown the other two robed men into a tree beside him.

“Er, I’m not anyway,” he continued after.

Chiming in, M’gann reminded, “You told me I could only read the bad guys’ minds.”

“You’d be correct, M’gann,” I said reassuring M’gann, before turning to Robin and Wally, “And you two. You need to communicate with us next time. We’ve revealed ourselves now.” I was getting slightly annoyed by their antics and we were just starting our mission.

Right as I finished, I heard someone running, but they were stopped when Kaldur dropped from above and electrocuted them.

From a distance away, we could see Superboy getting up and rolling his shoulders, under him was a dazed Bane.

“Grab the ropes off them and tie them to the trees,” Kaldur commanded. 

We did as he said and soon enough they were all tied up on two different trees. We huddled up when we finished.

“I recognize those uniforms,” said Robin, “They belong to the Cult of The Kobra.”

I internally groaned. Great, now we’re actually dealing with a cult. I’ve had enough of cults since entering this world.

Kaldur turned his head towards Robin and said, “I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca’s Venom operation.”

“Agreed, and since there’s no love lost between the cultists and those goons, I’m betting they came in and tossed them out.  _ That’s  _ why normal supply lines have been cut off,” Robin surmised.

Wally, who was tired of Robin’s thinking and probably this mission, said, “We get it. Kobra wanted super cultists. Radio Bats and we’ll be home in time for-”

Cutting Wally off, Robin pointed out, “These cultists aren’t on venom. Kobra’s hoarding the stuff. We don’t leave. Not until I know why.”

I sighed out loud at that one. It was like Cadmus all over again.

“Until  _ you  _ know why?” questioned Wally, leaning closer towards Robin.

“This team needs a leader,” Robin responded.

“And it’s you?!” Wally incredulously asked, “Dude, you’re a thirteen-year-old kid who ducked out on us without a word.”

Robin laughed at that, “And you’re a mature fifteen? You blew our cover first chance you got.”

Back besides Superboy and M’gann, she asked Superboy, “Don’t you want to lead?”

He just shook his head and scoffed, asking back, “You?”

“After the Mister Twister fiasco?”

“You did alright,” admitted Superboy.

M’gann looked to me and asked, “How about you, Phoenix? Don’t you want to lead?”

I shook my head and answered, “It would be nice, but I wouldn’t know how to. I’ve never worked with a team before, only a partner.” But I sure would do a better job than those bumbling baboons who were still arguing.

Finally tuning back in, I heard Wally shout, “Yeah? You don’t even have superpowers!”

Robin was quick to counter with, “Neither does Batman!”

“Duh, you’re not Batman.”

“Duh, closest thing we’ve got.”

I am on a mission with actual children. Where did I go wrong? At least I got a cool suit out of this.

A moment later, we could hear Bane laughing, “Such clever niños. But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest. Get you into the factory via my secret entrance.”

M’gann kneeled down with a hand to her head, presumably to read his mind, and said, “There is a secret entrance, but he’s also hiding something.”

“Ah, ah, ah chica. Bane is not that easy,” Bane smugly said.

She let out a noise of discomfort before continuing, “He’s mentally reciting fútbol scores en Español. This could take a while.”

Bane cut in quickly and simply said, “It’s not complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

All the guys just looked at each other thinking, but they all eventually nodded in agreement and so did I.

Robin moved to untie him from the bindings and Bane got up with a stretch.

“This way, niños,” he said as he led us up a trail. 

Eventually, we ended up at the edge of a small cliff overwatching the factory. Bane proceeded to point below at cultists moving crates of what I could only assume as Venom. Robin had pulled out binoculars while the rest of us looked on normally.

“Look at all that product. A buy is going down,” Robin said in shock, “But if Kobra’s not selling to the usual suspects, then-”

Kaldur cut in and stated, “We need to identify that buyer.”

“Just what I was thinking,” Wally said, straightening his back. Didn’t he want to leave a moment ago?

“Yeah. You're the thinker,” Robin said sarcastically while standing up.

“Sarcasm? Dude. A real leader would focus on getting answers,” a now annoyed Wally said flatly.

“Enough you two,” I told them, nodding towards Bane, who had walked to a boulder.

Bane lifted the boulder to reveal a tunnel that looked like a small mining shaft, and said, “Answers are this way,” while pointing into the tunnel.

I eyed him suspiciously but followed the others inside anyway. It was never good to trust villains, especially not ones like Bane.

“So... now el Luchador is our leader,” Wally sarcastically commented, only to be hit by a passing Robin. So much for sarcasm. 

We followed Bane nonetheless down the tunnel until we reached a metal door with what looked like a biometric scanner on it. Bane pressed his thumb against it, prompting the light on the door to turn green and for it to open to reveal a locker room. 

We all huddled into the small room and Bane opened the door, allowing Robin to peak outside and say, “All clear,” before running out.

We followed Bane out and didn’t see Robin in sight. “Has that little fool already been captured?” Bane asks.

I let out another sigh as an annoyed Kaldur answered, “No, he just does that.” I didn’t even bother pushing my senses for him.

Wally, seeing this as some opportunity for him, ran off after saying, “Stay put. I'll get our intel and be back before Boy Wonder.”

He was gone before Kaldur could finish saying, “Wait, Kid!”

“Already tried that last time. He’s selectively deaf,” I told him.

Bane simply looked back at us and said, “Great chain of command.”

We all just look at each other before Kaldur suggests, “Let’s move forward. We need to be able to see what’s happening.”

The four of us and Bane slowly crept towards the hangar doors of the factory and hid behind some crates and barrels.

In shock, Kaldur states, “It’s a massive shipment.” We couldn’t see much from the cliffs, but now we were able to clearly see all the crates and there were piled high.

“Yeah, but they’re only taking new product off the line,” Superboy said observing the men, “They’re not touching this Venom.”

“Maybe freshness counts?” M’gann put in.

“Or maybe there’s something different about this new Venom,” I suggest, still eyeing the new crates.

No one had the chance to provide further input as Superboy cut in a second later and said, “Helicopter’s coming.”

We soon heard the spinning blades of the helicopter coming down.

“Quick! Let’s move,” Aqualad ordered as he headed towards the stairs.

We followed once more and ended up on the catwalk above the factory.

“I can camouflage and fly above them to see who the buyer is and send the image back to you,” M’gann offered.

With a nod, Kaldur simply said, “Do it.”

She didn’t waste a moment and flew away as the helicopter landed. Kaldur got into a meditative position and awaited M’gann.

Opening his eyes in shock, he said “Sportsmaster.  _ He  _ is the buyer?” 

Putting a hand to his ear he attempted to radio in, “Aqualad to Red Tornado. Do you read?” but I assumed there was nothing based on his grunt. “Can’t reach the League, Robin, or Kid. Comm’s jammed. We need a plan. Now.”

The entire time, Bane just watched, but he spoke up for this time saying, “I have a suggestion,” and ran and jumped off the catwalk onto two unsuspecting guards below. The cultists tried shooting him but to no avail. I had tried to stop him but I wasn’t even close.

“What is he-” Kaldur began, as we looked down, but was quickly interrupted as something roared, crashing through the window and bringing down the catwalk. 

I sprouted my wings, as we were already discovered, and floated backward. Superboy and Kaldur landed on their feet and I floated down behind them and in front of the beast that crashed in on us. Having a closer look, I could see orange hair on a huge person, like Blockbuster, but this time they had a normal facial structure and a somewhat normal skin tone. Another thing it did share with Blockbuster was the cracks in its skin that revealed the underlying muscle.

Standing behind the beast of the man was Kobra, a girl, and more cultists.

“Destroy them,” Kobra ordered, prompting the cultist and the beast to charge.

Superboy met his charge, but I lost track of him as Aqualad and I formed shields to protect ourselves from gunfire.

I had put up a simple magic circle and yelled towards Kaldur, “Quickly! Behind me!”

He nodded and came behind my barrier, which now left me open to attack them. Holding the barrier up with one hand and putting the other on the ground, I grunted, letting a wave of fire out into the cultists. They were all knocked back or ran back themselves after seeing the wave push forward.

After they were distracted, Kaldur and I ran behind a large liquid tank. I saw M’gann somehow get blasted out of the air, but couldn’t dwell as we were met with two more cultists flanking us.

Before they could fire on us, Wally arrived from wherever he was and kicked them away. He quickly had to duck behind a beam though, as three more cultists were on an undamaged catwalk above.

From beside me, Kaldur shouted out, “Miss Martian, radio is jammed! Link us up!”

A moment later I hear M’gann in my head,  _ “Everyone online?” _

_ “Yeah,”  _ came from an exasperated Superboy.

_ “You know it, beautiful,”  _ Wally said. I had to let out an internal groan at that one.

_ “Here as well,”  _ I added.

_ “Good. We need to regroup,”  _ Kaldur stated, but was met with Robin saying,  _ “Busy now!” _

We were still pinned under fire and Kaldur had had enough and commanded,  _ “Robin! Now!” _

Running out together, Kaldur and I summoned our whips and swung at the cultists, with Kaldur ordering, “ _ Strategic retreat. Kid, clear a path.” _

Quickly after the order, Kid Flash zigzags, knocking down enemies, which clears a path for us to run back into the tiny locker room with the hidden door. Superboy was the last to arrive and quickly slammed the door shut. It didn’t matter though because the beast just shoulder charged it while we were running away. This gave the cultists behind it the opportunity to fire on us.

“Superboy, Phoenix, the support beams!” Kaldur shouted.

We nodded and he punched out a beam while I fired a fireball at the other. The tunnel soon collapsed on itself, closing it off and separating us.

We stopped right as the tunnel finished falling down. I created a fireball in my hand and threw it to the ground, acting as a light source for us in the dark tunnel.

“How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?” Robin questioned, mostly to himself.

Aqualad was quick to answer as we all watched Robin, “You do have the most experience. But perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared. Fighting alongside Batman, your roles are clearly defined. You two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And a leader needs to be clear, explicit. He cannot vanish and expect others to play part in an unknown plan.”

Robin turned toward us, exclaiming, “Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hands?” He let out a small grunt afterward and continued in a lower voice, “Ah, who am I kidding? You should lead us, Kaldur. You're the only one who can.”

I was about to cut in but before I could, Wally shouted, “Please! I can circles-”

I cut him off right there. “Enough, Wally,” I said, using his real identity, “you know this is the right choice.”

“Hello, Megan! It’s so obvious,” M’gann exclaimed as she put her hands on her hip.

“Coulda told ya,” Superboy says as he leans back against a support beam. A ghost of a smile could be seen on his face before he looked down at Kid Flash with a frown.

It took a moment, but Wally agreed, saying “Okay.”

“Then I accept the burden until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders,” Kaldur said as he put a hand on Robin’s shoulder, “You were born to lead this team. Maybe not now, but soon.” 

After Robin gave him a small nod, he turned back to us and stated, “Alright, our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving the island.” 

  
  


“Funny. I had the same thought,” Robin responded.

We gave him a confused look and he started running and continued, “I sabotaged the helicopter, they won’t be leaving anytime soon.”

“The helicopter should be our main focus and then the villains. Once we stop the shipment, we can deal with them,” I pointed out while we ran out.

“I agree. Once we exit the tunnel, we should descend the cliff and attack from the cover of the jungle,” Kaldur said

“Supey should definitely do it then. He can break that helicopter like it’s nothing,” added Wally.

“I can help with the destruction of the helicopter then,” I agreed.

“Since we have that taken care of, we should worry about Sportsmaster and the others,” said Robin in thought.

Chiming in, M’gann said, “Sportsmaster was able to see me through my camouflage when we fought earlier.”

“That is worrisome. We should keep you away from him then. Maybe you and Kid Flash can quickly clear the cultists. I will engage with Sportsmaster. Superboy should fight that large person who he fought with before. Robin can engage with Kobra and Phoenix should-” Kaldur planned, but I cut him off. 

“I’ll provide support wherever needed. We still have to worry about the girl Kobra had with him and there are many cultists. We’re already spread thin as we are.”

Everyone nodded and said, “Alright, we should move on then. I don’t think Robin’s sabotage will last long. Speaking of which, what intel did you gather?”

Pulling out his wrist computer, Robin started, “The new shipment is something called Kobra Venom and it’s made by combining Venom and the Blockbuster formula. It’s three times as effective and is permanent. Sportsmaster the supplier/buyer. But it still doesn’t track. He doesn’t have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula or to get Kobra to do his dirty work.”

“And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom,” Kid Flash added, “That took some major nerdage.”

“I believe the expression is ‘tip of the iceberg,’” Aqualad stated.

A moment after, Bane appeared at the end of the tunnel, prompting us to all stop.

Dropping a metal tube of some kind and holding what looked like a detonator, he ordered, “Halt, niños. I’m feeling explosive.”

We heard beeps coming from above us and low and behold there were explosives on the support beam right on top of us.

“You betrayed us. Why?” Kaldur questioned in shock.

“I want my factory back,” he simply replied.

_ “Kid, you’ll need a running start,”  _ Kaldur said through the mind link. Wally took a step back in response.

Continuing his supervillain monologue, Bane said, “So I forced you into a situation where you would either take down my enemies or die trying. If the latter, the Justice League would certainly come to avenge their sidekicks. And when the smoke cleared Santa Prisca would be mine once more. Blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effect.”

He went to press the detonator but was met with nothing in his hand as Wally had sped by and grabbed it the second before.

“With what?” asked Wally as he now stood behind Bane with the detonator in hand, “This trigger thingy?”

He swung at Wally in rage, but before he could connect, he was floated into the air.

“Finally,” Superboy stated, walking under the floating Bane, “Drop him.”

As Bane dropped, he was instantly knocked out by Superboy’s uppercut. He simply looked over Bane with a smirk of satisfaction. I couldn’t blame him, I would’ve blasted him if he wasn’t already unconscious.

“Tie him up, we’ll come back for him,” Kaldur ordered.

With Bane dealt with, I looked back at the explosives on the support beams in thought before asking, “Hey, Robin. How confident are you at removing explosives?”

He sent me a confused look and said, “I can do it but what’re you thinking?”

I simply smirked and continued, “Well he wanted his factory back and thought he could blow us up for it so I’m thinking we put these to good use. Since we can’t blow up Bane for obvious reasons, why not the factory?”

Robin caught on and smirked as well. “I’ll go get them then.”

* * *

_ “Everyone in position?”  _ Kaldur asked as we all hid in the jungle.

_ “Superboy and I are ready to go,”  _ I confirmed.

_ “Me too,” _ followed Wally

_ “Kobra in sight,” _ said Robin as his confirmation.

_ “Ready to go in the factory,”  _ M’gann finished.

_ “Alright, we go on Superboy’s and Phoenix’s signal,”  _ Kaldur ordered.

“Ready to rage like a rhino, Superboy?” I whispered. He simply nodded.

“Alright, you know the plan. Let’s go.”

And with that, he charged out of the jungle, straight towards the helicopter. I flew above him and watched him ram right into the helicopter, bending it pretty badly. He continued to completely batter it while I sent fireballs at the helicopter’s blades. We were being fired upon by cultists, which forced me to dodge and fly around. The behemoth of a person didn’t waste any time and charged right at Superboy.

They caught each other’s fists, but the beast was soon launched away by a stream of water coming from Kaldur. 

I saw Robin and Kid Flash in the fray near Kobra but didn’t watch long as Kaldur ordered, “I’ll take care of him, you and Phoenix to Sportsmaster.”

I didn’t need to be told twice as I swooped down and fired a stream of fire straight at Sportsmaster, forcing him to jump back. Superboy was being fired upon, but the cultists were quickly subdued by Wally, which unpinned Superboy for him to charge at Sportsmaster. They started brawling, but I was busy clearing the cultists still shooting at Superboy.

I dropped on one cultist, kicking him straight in the head, before spinning to kick another. I went into the rhythm of punch, kick, fireball until my area was clear enough to help Superboy.

“Superboy! Back up!” I yelled.

He did as I said, leaving me room to slam my palms on the ground. Instead of a wave of fire, a line of fire shot towards Sportsmaster and split around him, creating a tall enclosure of fire. It didn’t last long though, as a javelin traveled through my fire, straight at me, forcing me to dodge. The javelin exploded in front of me while I dodged, kicking up a cloud of smoke. When the smoke settled, we turned back and I lowered the wall of flames, revealing no one there.

“Dammit! He got away,” I said.

Our attention was quickly grabbed though as we heard a roar. Looking back toward its direction, we saw the behemoth getting electrocuted and knocked out by Aqualad.

_ “I finished planting the explosives,”  _ came M’gann through the link.

_ “Most of the villains have been dealt with. Clear the cultists and group up on Robin, he’s still fighting Kobra,”  _ Kaldur commanded.

We met up with M’gann as she exited the factory and cleared cultists with Wally, making it so the five of us were headed towards Robin. When we arrived, Kobra had his foot on Robin’s chest and Robin said “Good, because this mosquito is mighty concerted over your pain!” He did a helicopter kick, freeing himself and landing next to us a moment after.

We all stood ready to fight him, but he simply said “Another time then,” and walked into the shadows. Robin ran forward but saw no signs of him. I didn’t bother trying to find and chase him in a wild goose chase.

“We picked the right guy to lead, automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman!” Robin says to Kaldur while laughing.

I laughed as well and asked, “M’gann, would you do the honors of adding to this mess?”

She smiled and pressed the detonator, leading to the factory exploding behind us.

* * *

**|Mount Justice, Rhode Island**

**|July 23, 2010, 13:06 EDT**

“A simple recon mission,” Batman says as he steps up to Kaldur’s, “Observe and report!” Oh boy, he was mad. 

“You'll each receive written evaluations detailing your many mistakes,” Batman continued as he walked past all of us, who were currently lined up in the mission room. 

“Until then,” here comes the kicker, “good job,” Yup I knew it, wait a second did he say good job? We all looked at him in shock.

“No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success.” 

  
  


He started walking away but still spoke, “And how you choose who leads determines character.” 

I could see Robin and Aqualad smiling. I couldn’t help but smile too. This team was slowly shaping up to finally being… well a team.


	8. Chapter 3.5: Camping

**|Mount Justice, Rhode Island**

**|July, 20, 21:36 EDT**

Tonight was a typical Tuesday night, as everyone hung out around the cave. After the initial tour of the cave, everyone slowly started gathering at the cave whenever we were free.

I was currently hanging out with Robin, Kaldur, and Superboy after we had checked out the gym equipment. 

“It’s nice skipping out patrol sometimes, you know,” I said to Robin as we all walked down a hall.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” he replied, “We have some crazy criminals all across Gotham. You’re lucky New York and Boston are a lot chiller.”

I chuckled, “Not my fault you chose a looney town.”

I could feel Robin rolling his eyes at that one as everyone gave a small laugh, well except for Superboy.

Kaldur, noticing the more than usual glum face of Superboy, asked, “Have you been on a patrol yet Superboy?”

Superboy looked over and shook his head.

It was silent for a bit, but I jumped in offering, “Maybe you can go with me sometimes. There won’t be any superpowered baddies, but it’s better than staying in here all day.”

Superboy looked a little surprised, but didn’t get to answer as M’gann waved at us from the kitchen.

“Hello guys,” she greeted, “Would you all like to go camping with Wally and me?”

“Camping?” Robin questioned.

“Yes, camping,” she confirmed, “Wally wanted to go out tonight and make s’mores, why don’t you all join us? Consider it more team bonding.”

We all looked at each other and nodded. Robin had a slight smirk on his face from Wally’s antics but I had quite the opposite. Well, at least I would be interrupting Wally’s attempted date.

A moment later, Wally came running in and said, “Gather a couple of chairs, some firewood, scrounged the pantry for graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows and now we’ll cozy up together outside-,” then he fully opened his eyes, “just the  _ two _ of us?”

I let a small laugh out in my head as Robin stated, “We’re going to need a lot more stuff than that if we’re gonna go camping!”

“I hope you don’t mind,” M’gann told Wally, “I invited all the others to join in the fun with s’mores!”

He only let out a nervous but disappointed chuckle in response.

* * *

“This was a  _ great  _ idea, don’t you think Wally? Camping in the great outdoors!” Robin said teasingly.

Robin was toasting a marshmallow and resting on the ground with his back to a log, while Wally sat beside him eating a s'more.

We had set up camp in the forest behind the mountain, setting up two tents, a few chairs, and a fire, which was courtesy of me.

“I don’t remember inviting you,” Wally answered, “Besides, I didn’t say anything about  _ camping _ . I said a camp  _ fire _ . Big difference between just a campfire and the whole camping thing. I don’t like camping... outside…”

I deadpanned him from where I sat on the ground beside some rocks. Camping is only done outside, where else would you do it, in the kitchen? I internally sighed letting it go though, as I really never went camping myself.

Wally was quick to continue a second later and said, “Unless, of course, I’m camping with that special someone,” as he looked back at M’gann who was seated behind him.

“Dude, kinda bordering on creepy,” Robin cut in.

“Think he’s already past the border,” I muttered

M’gann, who had been given of a s’more from Robin, enthusiastically replied, “Well, I think all of us camping is a  _ wonderful  _ idea!”

A small smirk grew on Wally’s face and he said, “She doesn’t seem to think so,” as he fist-pumped the air.

I rolled my eyes while Robin quickly justified, “She’s probably on a sugar overload.”

Back to M’gann, who was eating her s’more, she continued, “Thanks to Wally, I got to try  _ s’mores _ for the first time!”

She seemed even more excited as she continued to eat her s’more.

“What can I say?” Waly rhetorically asked, “I’m a sweetie!”

We all just looked at him as he explained, “Get it? ‘Cause s’mores are sweet?”

No one laughed so he slowly backed down.

“So, this is what you do when you go camping?” Superboy questioned, speaking for the first time so far, “Sleep in these  _ flimsy  _ things called ‘tents’ and sit around the fire?”

Well I couldn’t blame him for thinking about camping so poorly. I didn’t find it that appealing either, but it was still a nice experience.

With a disinterested look, Wally answered, “Yeah, that’s pretty much about it so if you feel like heading home I can sit out here with Miss M… alone.”

I rolled my eyes once more as Robin commented, “You’re about as subtle as a train wreck, you know that?”

“You’re not going to catch any fish unless you go fishing dude,” Wally quickly quipped back as he chowed down on another s’more.

He turned back to Kaldur after he swallowed and offered, “Sorry. No offense.”

At least he had some manners, I guess.

“Back to the point,” I said, “What do people when camping besides s’mores?”

Robin crossed his arms and stared into the fire as he answered, “Well, usually you sit around the campfire and tell stories.”

“Oh!” exclaimed M’gann, “I would love to hear your story Kaldur. Could you tell us how you became Aqualad?”

I turned toward Kaldur and raised a brow. It would be interesting to learn how the Atlantean got on land.

“I was thinking more of a ghost story type of thing but I guess… whatever,” Robin continued, but M’gann was already intently looking at Kaldur.

“Oh,” Kaldur spoke in light surprise, “I suppose I could do that if you do not think it will be too boring.”

“Not at all!” M’gann exclaimed, “I would love to hear it!”

“I’d like to know too since we haven’t really talked about it before,” I added.

He went on to explain his life back in Atlantis in the city of Shayeris. Unlike what I thought before, Atlantis was more of a nation than a large city. He spoke of his education, mandatory military service, and time at the Conservatory of Sorcery. That last one mainly piqued my interest since I could only imagine the difference from the known magic on land versus the sea.

Then began his tale of when Poseidonis, the capital of Atlantis, was attacked by Ocean Master.

“It was the day Aquaman nearly met his end,” he began, “Aquaman and Ocean Master fought for what seemed like hours. When they clashed, it seemed to shake the very foundations of the city. Near the end, Ocean Master had gained the upper hand and nearly defeated Aquaman, or rather he  _ had  _ defeated Aquaman. That was until Garth, a fellow student of the Conservatory and friend of mine, and I intervened on the King’s behalf. It was the only thing we could think of doing, although it may have been the most foolish thing we had ever done as we too almost met our end. We had no hope of defeating him, but the time we spent engaged in battle was enough time for our king to recover and triumph over and drive Ocean Master away.”

“Aquaman is a being of two worlds. On the surface world, he fights for justice for all beings. Under the sea, he is a leader to many. Both carry the weight of responsibilities, overwhelming responsibilities only even the best of men can carry for so long. Even Aquaman cannot do both forever.”

“Realizing that on the surface both Batman and Green Arrow had taken apprentices that could one day take over their respective mantels, King Orin had been contemplating the same idea. With this in mind, he approached both Garth and myself with the possibility of becoming his proteges. Both Garth and I seriously considered the king’s offer, but Garth ultimately chose to continue his studies with Queen Mera at the Conservatory of Sorcery. For me, however, the chance to visit the surface world was a dream come true.”

Finishing his story he said, “So at the age of fourteen, I became Aqualad. I miss my friends, but the chance to work with my mentor and king was an opportunity I could not pass up. The rest of the story you know. Aquaman brought Aqualad to the surface world… and now I am here with you.”

I sat back enjoying the warmth of the campfire as I thought over his story. Military service, magic student, and now a superhero. I’d be surprised if I wasn’t who I was.

“Wow,” M’gann said, “So you wanted to be Aqualad?”

Staring off into the fire, he answered, “Yes. The opportunity arose, I could think of no other path.”

Looking back toward Kaldur and M’gann, Wally pointed to him and said, “Yeah? If you think  _ he  _ wanted to be Aqualad so bad, let me tell you about how  _ I  _ got started.”

Wally went on to talk about the generations of Flashes, from the original Jay Garrick, who I’ve previously met before, to the current Flash. The current Flash had copied Jay’s experiment and received the same powers, but this time even faster.

“Okay so check this!” he started explaining excitedly, “The second Flash is a fan of the first Flash, Jay Garrick. It turns out great minds think alike, ‘cause I was a fan of the Flash, the second one not the first one.”

I scoffed at the great minds thinking alike part, but he continued.

“Well, I was a fan of Jay Garrick, the first one after I got to know him. He was a little before my time,” he corrected, “Long story short, one day I was in my uncle’s house, stumbled across his notebooks and got the shock of a lifetime! That was the day I found out that my uncle was the Flash! Once the shock passed, I kept reading and found that he was keeping a journal of all his experiences and experiments! Especially the one that made him the Flash, the second not the first-”

“We get it already!” Robin interrupted.

Ignoring the fact that he just revealed the identity of the Flash to all of us, I stared blankly as he continued.

He went on to say how he tried to hint the Flash into needing a partner but the Flash refused.

Crossing his arms, Superboy asked, “Does this sound confusing to anyone else?”

Wally quickly replied, “Just let me finish and you will be confused no more, Supey. So, having seen his journal just like he saw the previous Flash’s, I try to recreate the experiment with my  _ own  _ chemistry set,” and then shot finger guns at him, “And what do you know? I was able to do it!”

“The experiment actually worked?” Kaldur questioned, raising a brow of his own.

“Well…” Wally began, “Not at first, actually. It didn’t happen at first but a couple of weeks later.. I was off and running. I couldn’t wait to show Flash! When he saw that I had powers, how could he  _ not  _ want me as a partner? You guys should’ve seen his face when I showed him!”

“This time he  _ jumped  _ at the chance to have a partner,” he said, “Flash couldn’t wait to show the world! The Flash was beyond ecstatic! He couldn’t contain his excitement! It was the greatest day in the history of the world!”

I somehow doubted all those statements.

“Why, you ask?” Wally rhetorically asked.

“Just for the record, we didn’t,” Robin pointed out.

Wally didn’t stop though as he said, “That’s the day the world got Kid Flash! You. Are. Welcome.”

He looked smug, but Robin stomped on his parade with, “yeah we’re all thrilled you’re so speed-capable.”

“What’s the matter? Jealous?” Wally taunted.

Yeah right! Jealous of you?” Robin quipped back.

Enjoying another s’more, M’gann asked, “can you tell us about how you got started, Robin?”

Now that one piqued my interest. How did the Boy Wonder get started?

Robin didn’t answer as Wally snorted and replied, “Are you kidding me?  _ Bats _ won’t even let him tell you his real name!”

He laughed again and continued, “I mean… you’ll probably get a batter origin story out of Supey over here.”

“But you already told me his story, didn’t you?” M’gann questioned, “You said that the four of you rescued him from Cadmus.”

“We did,” I spoke up, “It was a little over two weeks ago.”

“That is correct,” Kaldur stated, “Chronologically, Superboy is only 16 weeks old.”

“And you have no memory of things before being rescued?” M’gann asked Superboy.

“I have some memories… from the G-Gnome,” he answered, “It would teach me about the world outside while I was in the containment pod.”

“So you  _ can  _ remember things?” M’gann continued, “When you were in the containment pod they would feed you information and you could remember it, right?”

“I guess so,” he replied.

“Well if you can remember what they taught you, you must’ve been thinking about things as they fed you information. What did you think about?”

“When I was in the containment pod, I was fed… information. I really didn’t start thinking for myself until after I got out.”

“Well, what kind of things do you think about now?”

He stared off into the fire for a moment before looking back at us.

“The one thing…” he started, “That’s  _ always  _ on my mind…  _ destroying Superman _ .”

We could only stare at him in shock as he stood and faced away from us.

“Did you hear what he said?” Wally asked looking at Robin.

“Huh?” Robin said, “What?”

He seemed to be lost in thought and had just snapped out of it.

“He just said he wants to take down  _ Superman _ !” Wally shouted.

“Are you serious, Superboy?” M’gann asked him.

“Its how I feel… sometimes,” he answered, “What if that’s why I was created? What if that was the only reason I was created?”

“That’s not possible!” she countered 

Wally stood up and said, “Yeah! Look at all the good stuff you’ve done so far!”

“What would be the possible reasoning behind this thinking?” Kaldur questioned.

Superboy continued to look away as he replied, “I just feel… I don’t know what I feel. Sometimes…  _ thoughts  _ happen.”

“Those would be silly thoughts!” M’gann exclaimed, “You should put them out of your head.”

Robin had grasped the situation and finally spoke, “He does have a valid point. We really don’t know anything about what they did to him yet.”

“We know he’s one of the good guys and we know he’s part of this team!” Wally insisted.

“Those thoughts are just that… thoughts and nothing else,” I said, “You don’t act on them but instead work to do good for the world.”

M’gann continued, “In my world,  _ actions _ speak louder than words. Superboy has proven his intentions with actions.”

I smirked at the ‘my world part’ and agreed, “I would say the same.”

“Yeah!” Wally responded, “You put those thoughts outta your head Supey!”

Coming up behind Superboy, Wally handed him another s’more and said, “Here. Have another s’more.”

He grabbed it and stared at it before saying, “Thanks… everyone.”

Wally spoke in a hushed tone with Robin before sitting down. I didn’t bother to listen in.

Once he sat down he looked back between myself and M’gann, and pointed out, “Hey! You two haven’t told us about your story. What’s up with that?”

I have an awkward chuckle before answering, “Mine is a little… complicated. I’ll save it for last, that’s if you don’t mind M’gann.”

“Oh… of course, okay. Since all of you told your stories… I guess… Well, I’m from Mars,” she slowly said, “Ugh! Hello, Megan! You guys already know that!”

She began her tale of life on Mars, their underground tunnels, her telepathy, and then her extremely large family.

“Martian families are usually quite large,” she stated, “I have twelve sisters and seventeen brothers! In my extended family, I have over three hundred cousins.”

“Three hundred?” Wally asked, getting in her face, “Are they all hot girls like you?”

She answered “Yes,” to the first question but Robin cut him off.

“Wow,” Robin said, “What a class act.”

I internally groaned once again when he asked those questions.

“Dude!” he exclaimed “ _ Three hundred girls _ that look like her? That’s a planet I want to visit!”

She then continued her story of Mars. She told us of the other colored Martians that were red or white and how white Martians were looked down upon.

“How did you happen to come to Earth?” Kaldur asked, prepping a marshmallow.

“Of all the brothers, sisters, parents, aunts, and uncles, the family member I was closest to was Uncle J’onn. We had a  _ great  _ relationship!”

She then told us how she would watch her uncle and the Justice League fight from Mars and how her uncle returned to Mars in search of a younger martian hero. He held a contest for everyone, but at the end of the day, she had won the whole competition.

“Now I am here with all of you, and I am of the team! I truly love it!” she shouted.

“We are happy you’re here with us as well, M’gann,” Kaldur stated.

“You could say  _ that  _ again!” Wally said, “Now how about you Claude? What’s your story?”

“Well... it’s quite complicated and you might find it unbelievable,” I slowly began, “I’m not from this world.”

“Not from this world, like M’gann?” Kaldur asked.

“Uhm… something like that,” I answered, “I’m actually from another universe/dimension.”

“What?” Wally exclaimed, “How is that possible?”

“I’m from a completely different universe where you guys don’t exist and it’s just a normal world without superheroes… besides people like me.”

“People like you?” M’gann questioned.

“My full name is Claude Phenex, as in the demon Phenex. I’m a descendent of the demon Phenex of my world,” I explained, “In my world, the mythologies and religious beliefs like Christianity exist. I’m a demi-demon, born from my dad, who was the head of the House of Phenex, and a mortal woman.”

“Wait, wait, wait, you’re telling me that God exists?” Wally asked exasperatedly.

“Well in my universe, he did exist. Keyword did because he was slain with the original seven Princes of Hell in the first war between Heaven and the Underworld, a.k.a. The First Holy Demonic War. Now to how I got here, is because of the second version of the previously mentioned war. It’s something like the mortal World Wars. War was on the horizon and my family was attacked in a secret invasion of the Underworld. My father and Lord Leviathan, who you would guess is the head of House Leviathan, a Prince of Hell, sent me through a magic circle that teleported me into Lucifer knows where because they hypothesized that the world would collapse due to the war. I was knocked out during the process and ended up in your world in the middle of some cultist ritual and they thought I was some great demon they summoned. Luckily for me, Kent Nelson, or the previous Doctor Fate, was around and found me. He took me in, trained me, and introduced me to some people he knew. That’s how I ended up as Zatara’s student. I also met some other members of the Justice Society like Wildcat, who also helped train me, and the original Flash, Jay Garrick as Wally previously stated.”

“So basically you’re an interdimensional traveler who’s a demon,” Robin stated.

“Yeah, that sums it up, pretty much,” I confirmed.

“It would explain the fire and wings…” Robin muttered to himself

“Wait!” Wally began, “You expect us to believe that you were teleported here from some other universe?”

“Wally, you live in this universe, which is infinitely weirder than mine, and can’t believe that?” I asked as I looked at him exasperatedly.

He was about to say something and had his finger raised, but lowered it as everyone stared at him. He relented and said, “Touché.” 

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I think I’ve had one s’more too many. I’m going to hit the old sleeping bag,” Robin said standing up.

M’gann stood as well and stated, “Yes! This has been such a wonderful evening but I am excited to sleep in a tent.”

I couldn’t say the same but I wanted to see what a tent was like anyway.

  
  


“I’m right behind you,” Wally send, trying to go towards M’gann.

I wrapped an arm around his shoulder preventing him from doing so, and headed towards the other tent as I said, “This way, buddy.”

Grabbing Wally’s arm, Robin said, “Yeah, but you’re sleeping in  _ this  _ tent right over here.”

Wally relented once more and started walking on his own, and asked, “Hey, next time, you think we should go camping for real, like at a  _ real camping  _ place instead of just in our own backyard?”

“You don’t strike me as the outdoorsy type,” Robin answered, “ Tonight we’re sleeping about five feet from the cave entrance, maybe next time we can try down the hill a bit.”

As we entered the tent, I realized one thing, “Wait, are all of us guys sleeping in a single tent?”

We all looked at each other before I said, “Damn.”

What an eventful night this was.


	9. Chapter 4: Early Schooling

**NEW A/N: So here’s the new and overdue update. I’m writing this before actually writing the chapter and warning, it may feel off. I don’t know how it’ll turn out since my mind has drifted from the original idea, but I’ll do my best. I’m honestly more interested in my other story if I’m being truthful. I already have seasons 2 and 3 planned out for both stories and there are just so many more possibilities for PS. Don’t worry about stalled updates yet though as my focus hasn’t officially shifted yet. Updates will be slower starting after this chapter as my school has officially started up and I have a lot more studying and writing I have to do. Just know that I’m not abandoning the story, it will just be slower than I would like it to be. Dream plan would be having the entire story finished by the end of the year or a little past it in preparation for the release of season 4 (the teaser of which is being released within the month). Nothing is official and everything is up in the air for what I’ll be doing in the future, but one thing that is set in stone is that I’ll be updating. I just don’t know how long it’ll take between each update.**

**OLD A/N: Hey guys, I know I haven't been uploading due to some personal reasons (getting ready for school and college, etc.) but I will try to get an update out for you guys by next Friday. I'll have an updated A/N if not. Sorry for the long wait, hope you guys can hold out just a bit longer. Thanks for the growing support and my other story is out for a read if you're looking for something to keep you going.**

* * *

**|Tower of Fate, Massachusetts**

**|July, 31, 8:13 EDT**

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, almost a week after the team’s first official mission. Since our scolding/praising from Batman, we’ve felt somewhat better about ourselves. We’ve hung out more often at the Cave, enjoying each other’s company when we weren’t needed.

Robin would be out some nights patrolling with Batman. The Bat was a nocturnal creature after all. I mostly came to keep M’gann and Superboy company as they were the only two living there. Kaldur was there frequently as not many nefarious sea crimes were committed, although Aquaman has taken him to the other side of the world to help around before. Wally was… well Wally, flirty with M’gann every chance he had, to the ire of everyone else.

I was eating breakfast, a classic bowl of cereal, when Kent came in.

“Good morning, Claude,” he greeted, “Plans for the day?”

Gulping down my cereal, I replied, “Not really. Might visit the gym or Shadowcrest up in New York. Did you have anything planned?”

“No, but I did want to speak with you real quick,” he responded.

I quirked my brow as I ate another spoonful, “What about?”

“It’s about how you’ve been using your magic,” he said, “For example, you are very fond of throwing balls of magic and fire, but you rarely do something different.”

“Well, the magic just kind of forms into balls real easily,” I answered.

“But have you ever channeled your magic into beams, blasts, or anything else?” he questioned, “More specifically your chaotic magic since I know you can become a human flamethrower and whip slinger whenever you want.”

I thought back and I really haven’t been too creative with my use of magic. 

“Hmmm, I guess I haven’t been pushing myself then…” I said softly. With a new look of determination in my eyes, I said, “Alright, I’ll be training today then. Care to join me?”

He chuckled at my sudden enthusiasm and simply responded, “Of course, kid.”

* * *

**|Mount Justice, Rhode Island**

**|August 3, 13:06 EDT**

It was a regular Summer Tuesday as the team hung out at the Cave. Everyone was here except for Superboy, who had been out in Metropolis with Superman earlier in the morning. 

We were currently surrounding a holographic air hockey table as Wally and Kaldur played. Their game was a little one-sided, as I assumed Kaldur wasn’t too well versed in games, but he still held his own. Wally eventually won as we heard the winning sound go through the air. Not a moment later, another sound could be heard.

**_Recognized: Superboy B-05_ **

Superboy appeared from the zeta tube a second later, with a not so pleasant look on his face. Walking towards us, or rather past us, he walked through the holo-table and ignored us.

“Hey, Superboy, how was Metropolis?” M’gann asked.

She was met with no reply. 

Off in the other direction, we heard an “Uh-hum” as Black Canary cleared her throat.

“Ready for training everyone?” she asked as she walked towards us with Martian Manhunter.

M’gann was the first to speak up again, exclaiming, “Black Canary! Uncle J’onn!” as she went up to hug her uncle.

Resting his hand on her shoulder, he started, “M’gann, I was in the neighborhood so I thought I’d see how you were adjusting.”

“A few bumps, but I’m learning,” she replied.

“That’s all I can ask,” he said back.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Superboy continue to walk away. He was stopped though as Canary saw him too.

“Stick around,” she told him, “Class is in session.”

Superboy turned around and crossed his arms in response.

Walking to the center of the area, Canary activated the platform and began to speak, “I consider it an honor to be your teacher. I’ll throw a lot at you everything I’ve learned from my own mentors,” she pulled off her jacket and continued, “And my own bruises.” 

After a grunt in pain, we could see her bandaged bicep.

This prompted M’gann to ask, “What happened?”

“The job,” she simply replied.

Throwing her jacket to the side, she began, “Now, combat is about controlling conflict. Putting the battle on your terms. You should always be acting, never reacting. I’ll need a sparring partner.”

Wally raised his hand while he ate his banana in the other, but I asserted, “I’ll go,” leaving no room for argument. I wanted to see how I fared against Ted’s other student I’ve heard so much about.

She smirked as I walked up and got into stance.

Not a moment later, she sprang at me with a punch that I quickly blocked. I sent my own punch but was met with air and she dropped to the ground and tried to sweep my feet. Using the momentum of my punch I flipped over her and quickly spun around to meet her again. I wasn’t quick enough on my turn though as I was greeted with a punch to the chest, which sent me sliding back and eventually to my butt. 

Well, the fight ended up about how my fights with Ted would have, but I usually lasted for a little bit longer. To be fair I wasn’t expecting the sweep. Guess I have more to work on than my magic.

“Not bad,” she said before turning to the others, “But did anyone see what he did wrong?”

No one responded so she answered herself, saying, “He allowed me to dictate the terms of-”

“Oh please,” Superboy cut her off, “With my powers, the battle's always on my terms. I’m a living weapon and this is a waste of my time.”

Canary turned away from the team and toward Superboy.

With a daring look on her face, she said, “Prove it.”

I took that as my cue to walk back towards the team as Superboy walked to the center.

They both got into their respective stances a few seconds after. Superboy was the first to move, sending a punch at Canary. She easily dodged and grabbed his extended arm, flipping him over across the area and onto his back.

Robin let out a laugh but Kaldur quickly silenced him, as I was too busy watching. Who knew you could flip around a Kryptonian so easily.

Superboy recovered on a knee, growling like an animal before Canary spoke.

“You’re angry. Good, but don’t react. Channel that anger-” she began, but she was quickly cut off by Superboy charging at her. She flipped over his body, blocking his swing when he tried to turn, and then sweeping him off his feet as she did to me.

Robin laughed behind his hands while I was quite amused. Looking at the others, they seemed quite worried, well except for Robin.

Canary offered him a hand up, but he swatted her hand away and growled, “That’s it. I’m done.”

“Training is mandatory,” was her response.

It didn’t go any further as Batman appeared on a large holo-screen a moment after.

“Batman to the Cave,” he began, prompting everyone to gather around, “Five hours ago, a new menace attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary. The attacker was capable of studying then duplicating the powers and abilities of its opponents.”

A smaller screen came up with footage of the fight where an android fought the Justice League.

“Arrow called in reinforcements, which nearly proved disastrous as our foe gained more and more power with each new combatant.”

Wally looked up in awe and murmured, “Whoa, one guy with the powers of the entire League?” 

The others were similarly shocked, with Kaldur and Robin even being slack jawed. How could a machine even be capable of copying all the League capabilities?

“In the end, it took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android,” Batman concluded.

Robin was quick to question the last statement, asking “An android? Who made it, T.O. Morrow?”

“Good guess, Robin, but Red Tornado doesn’t think so,” Batman answered. 

“The technology bears the signature of Professor Ivo,” Martian Manhunter explained.

“Ivo?” Aqualad questioned, “But Ivo’s dead.”

I had a questioning look on my face since I didn’t really know the names they were tossing around, but it sounded serious.

“So we all thought,” Black Canary said looking over her shoulder, “Or hoped.”

“To make certain this threat is permanently neutralized, we’re sending two trucks carrying the Android’s parts to two separate STAR Labs facilities in Boston and New York for immediate evaluation. Every precaution is being taken.” 

Another holo-screen appeared outlining the route on a small map.

“We’ll have four additional trucks to create confusion in case Ivo or anyone tries to recover the remains. You will split into undercover teams to safeguard the two real trucks,” Batman finishes.

“Yes!” Wally exclaimed excitedly, “Road trip.”

“So now we take out your trash?” Superboy questioned somewhat spitefully.

“You had something better to do?” Batman shot back.

Superboy didn’t reply, just looking away.

A second later, Aqualad pulled out his communicator, which looked similar to a phone, and said, “Coordinates received. On our way.”

This prompted us to all run off towards the hanger.

Who would’ve known we would have another mission so soon. Hopefully, it won’t be too boring. 

* * *

**|Litchfield County, Connecticut**

**|August 3, 20:08 EDT**

It had been roughly seven hours later when we were fully ready to go. After our briefing in the cave, Aqualad had read aloud our in-depth instructions while he led us to the hangar.

We were to travel to Connecticut, where the battle had happened, and discreetly trail the STAR Labs trucks. Although I wonder how trailing trucks on motorcycles were discreet, who was I to say.

Speaking of motorcycles, we were given personalized according to Robin. Robin, Kaldur, Wally, and I had sport type motorcycles while M’gann was given a scooter/moped type. Superboy also had a sport type, but his was considerably bulkier compared to ours. I guess it had to do with his weight or strength.

“So we all have attack modes on our bikes in case we have to dismount during a battle,” Robin explained, “And a few of you guys have some specializations on your bikes, like Aqualad who has a water tank in the front of his or Phoenix who has a heat resistant coating.”

We all nodded in acknowledgment, helmet in hand. Robin had already put on his red helmet which corresponded in color with his black motor suit. 

Moments after we followed in Robin’s suit and put on our helmets, Batman had signaled the trucks to take off. They had just finished packing the last parts of the android. We followed as the six transports split in the two directions.

Following our in-depth briefing, it was decided that it would be Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Miss M going west, while Robin, Superboy, and I went east. We followed a small distance behind and eventually the two decoy trucks split off from us.

I was enjoying the quiet mission and the view of the countryside, but Robin eventually sped up beside me and Superboy.

  
  


“If dislike is the opposite of like, is disaster the opposite of aster? See, instead of things going wrong, they go right,” Robin said, doing another one of his little wordplays.

I deadpanned to him and gave him a, “Really?”

He looked at me but then to Superboy who was glaring ahead of him, not replying once again today.

“Uh, clearly you're not feeling the aster,” Robin stated, “What's wrong?”

“Yeah, you’ve been weirder than usual since you came back. What’s up?” I inquired.

It didn’t take Sherlock to see that something had been bothering since the afternoon.

“Canary,” he replied, “And what business does she have teaching combat skills to a guy with super-strength?”

I chuckled to myself at that one. I couldn’t blame his thinking though, he was only a few months old and in the world after all.

“Taking down stronger guys is part of the gig,” Robin simply stated, “Canary learned that the hard way. Same with Batman and, well... me.”

I didn’t add on since he pretty much summed it up. Superboy revved his motorcycle and sped further ahead of us leaving me and Robin.

“I’m sure he’ll get it eventually,” I reassured Robin.

He looked at me and back ahead before saying, “Let’s hope so.”

It was back to quiet after that, but it didn’t last long. A few moments later, I heard monkeys, but I was pretty sure monkeys didn’t inhabit the countryside.

I’d be correct as green, flying, robotic monkeys flew past us and onto the transport truck ahead of us.

Through our comms, we heard, “Robin, Superboy, Phoenix, our truck is under attack!”

“Kind of figured,” Robin replied on the comms as we sped up to Superboy.

I could make out an, “I hate monkeys,” from Superboy as we came up to him.

“Robot monkeys,” Robin excitedly said with a laugh, “Totally Ivo’s tweaked style.”

A second later, he switched into battle mode, with the back wheel turning into a drone of some sort and the motorcycle becoming a motorized unicycle.

“Hey, hey. Switch your ride to Battle Mode,” Robin told us.

I followed suit and activated battle mode and was pleasantly surprised by the stability of the motorcycle even with only one wheel.

Superboy wasn’t on board though since he stated, “No point,” before jumping onto the truck. 

“Or not,” was all Robin could get out before Superboy’s motorcycle crashed into his, forcing him to grapple onto the back of the truck.

I merely sighed at this before putting my bike into autopilot and opening up my wings. I flew above the truck and blasted fire at the monkeys in the air, but they got to the battle drones before I could destroy them. 

Hearing a yell, I turned to Superboy, only to see him clutching his eyes and being flown off by a group of monkeys. I considered blasting them but I would’ve hit Superboy as well, and I heard Kryptonians and magic don’t mix well.

Not dwelling on him anymore, I landed beside Robin as he got on top of the vehicle.

“I got your back, get the driver,” I told him.

I didn’t get to see his nod in acknowledgment, but I did see him pull out his eskrima sticks as he walked forward. Forming a whip of fire, I slashed a few monkeys in half as they lunged at me. More seemed to appear from nowhere, but Superboy landed back on top, taking their attention.

A moment later, the vehicle swerved and destabilized. I could see Robin go towards the driver so I went toward Superboy. Right as the truck went on its side, I jumped and grabbed Superboy in a bear hug before flying into the air.

The truck rolled over a few times before landing and skidding on its top. As I landed and dropped Superboy down, I could see the back of the truck exploding outward with the monkeys flying away with the cargo.

Not even a moment later after seeing this, Superboy let out a grunt before jumping after the monkeys.

“Superboy!” Robin and I yelled, but he didn’t listen once more.

“Aqualad to Robin. We’ve lost our cargo. Did you-” Kaldur began on the comms, but Robin quickly cut him off.

“It’s gone,” He said.

“And so is Superboy,” I finished.

“Aqualad to Superboy. Radio your position. We’ll help you,” Kaldur told Superboy.

No response came, prompting Kaldur to ask “Superboy?”

There was no reply once again.

“I think he ditched his comm,” Robin stated.

“Super,” Wally spoke out sarcastically, “Now we can’t even track him.”

“He’s out of my telepathic range. This Professor Ivo, if he is alive, seems to be two steps ahead of us. M-maybe w-we should contact Red Tornado?” M’gann stutters out.

“Tornado always tells us to handle things ourselves,” Aqualad replies, “And the mission can still succeed if we recover the parts before they’re reassembled.”

“Besides, we’ve taken care of ourselves before,” I chimed in, “We took down an island of villains last time, so how does it look for us that we were beaten by a few robotic monkeys.”

“Well, that’s a great plan,” Wally said in exasperation, “except for the part about us not knowing  _ where to look _ !”

From beside me, Robin countered, “Maybe we do,” before plugging his wrist computer into a fallen monkey. 

“We’d have heard by now if the decoy trucks had been attacked,” he said as he typed away, “So how did these monkeys know exactly which trucks to target?”

Cue more tapping and a holo-screen later, Robin exclaimed, “Ha! The parts have GPS. The monkeys can track the signal, which means I can track with the one I captured. Looks like both sets of parts are converging on… Gotham City.”

“That far south?” Aqualad questioned, mainly to himself, “M’gann and I won’t get there anytime soon. I’m sending Kid on ahead to meet you. Aqualad out.” 

“We should get moving then,” I said to Robin as he called his motorcycle to him.

Seeing that I didn’t have my ride with me he asked, “Uhm, how are you going to get there?”

Since I couldn’t call my motorcycle to me like Robin I opted to just sprout my wings and say, “Trust me, I’ll be able to keep up.”

Nodding, he sighed, “This definitely turned into a disaster. Heavy on the dis.”

I chuckled as we left, “No need to say that again.”

* * *

**|Gotham City, New Jersey**

**|August 3, 21:21 EDT**

Robin had tracked the parts to Gotham and it appeared that they had already entered the city. It had taken a while but we were reaching the limits of Gotham City and had taken the liberty of changing into our suits. Apparently he wore his suit under his motorsuit, while I on the other hand simply summoned mine.

Speeding into Gotham, Wally came up running up to me and Robin.

“So you changed too?” Robin asked Wally as he slowed down to match our speed.

Wally, in his signature yellow suit, replied, “You kidding? I feel naked in civies. You still tracking the parts?”

“We’ve been tracking them through Gotham up until about you came around,” I answered.

“Yeah, but they’ve suddenly veered off,” Robin said looking at the screen on his motorcycle, “Wait! Dude, they're at my school!”

I raised my brow at that one since that’s the most I’ve ever heard Robin reveal about himself. Well to be fair, the defender of Gotham would go to school in Gotham, but I digress.

“And where would that be?” I questioned.

“They’re going through Gotham Academy, and fast,” he answered.

“Then I guess we’ll just have to teach Ivo a lesson,” Wally joked.

I groaned at his joke and simply replied, “Let’s just hurry before they do to your school what it did to that field back in the countryside.”

We sped off with Robin leading us and we eventually ended up at the front of the school.

Robin dismounted and simply yelled out, “At the gym!” after looking at his wrist computer.

“Got it,” Wally said before speeding off ahead of us.

We arrived after to see Wally swooping in to save Superboy from being flattened. He stopped next to me and Robin, but the fully reconstructed Amazo turned to us as well. Robin flung a disc at Amazo as I moved to support Superboy, but Amazo stared down at the disc and said, “Access: Martian Manhunter,” before letting the disc pass through him.

“Access: Red Tornado,” it voiced after, sending us flying off into the bleachers except for Wally, who had been flung into an adjacent wall.

We got up in time to see Wally get shot at after Amazo voiced, “Access: Captain Atom.”

He dodged but was met with a sonic wave after Amazo used Black Canary’s ultrasonic cry, which sent him back again.

Somehow sensing Superboy, Amazo accessed Superman’s powers and stopped his incoming fist and caught it. He unceremoniously punched him right back and sent it flying.

Robin and I sent our projectiles flying at Amazo, his disks and my fireballs, and Amazo accessed Martian Manhunter's shapeshifting capabilities and tried to smack them away. The keyword was  _ try  _ because as my magic fire touched him he was sent back into the bleacher behind him.

“Whatever you just did, do it again!” Robin yelled as we repositioned.

I was about to fire more at Amazo, but Wally went in for the beatdown, speeding into Amazo as he was getting up. What he didn’t expect though was for Amazo to shoot out his hand and grab his neck.

“Access: Superman.”

With that, Amazo began to squeeze down on Wally’s throat. Just as I was about to sling fire at Amazo, I was interrupted again as Amazo density shifted using Martian Manhunter’s powers and dropped Wally. Just as we shifted, we could see an arrow fly through where Amazo’s head was but land on the floor.

Robin and I moved and threw out projectiles which staggered Amazo once more so Wally could speed off and recover.

This gave Superboy the time to recover as well and he ran towards Amazo once more, but was once again tossed aside like earlier today when Amazo used Black Canary’s martial arts skills.

Robin and I sent another volley of projectiles, but Amazo was prepared this time, prepping Superman’s heat vision and shooting at us. Wally was able to tackle us down before the lasers hit, but Amazo was not as lucky. He took my fire face on and staggered back onto his knees.

“I’m impressed, you’ve managed to damage my amazing Amazo, but at the end of the day, you’re all just poor copies of the originals,” Ivo drawled out from the top of bleachers.

“Uhm, I  _ am  _ the original,” I pointed out, but I was ignored as Superboy spoke up.

“So everyone keeps saying,” Superboy states, “It makes me angry!”

With that, he lunged from the opposite side of the room and onto where Ivo was just seconds ago, smashing the bleachers apart.

“Want to see me channel that anger?” he yelled out.

With me and Robin, Wally said, “Great, he’s gone ballistic again.”

“Maybe not,” Robin replied.

“Amazo, protect your master. Priority Alpha,” Ivo screamed out as he ran from Superboy.

“Captain Atom,” was all Amazo said as he blasted Superboy.

Laser beam, huh? I think I knew how to beat him now. After quickly thinking back on it, Amazo only reacted negatively to my fire, but not to the impact of Robin’s disc. So that means Amazo doesn’t like fire or magic. It’s almost like he didn’t take the powers of the Justice League, but also their weaknesses. There was only one way to test my theory though and I just got my inspiration.”

“Keep Amazo busy. I have a plan… sort of,” I told Robin and Kid.

They both nodded and ran off as I stood still with my hands together. Slipping out the dagger holstered on my hip, I placed my hands over each other, hoping this would work out how I thought it would.

“I gotta be more creative with my magic, right Kent?” I whispered to myself as I focused up.

With Robin, he playfully asked, “Anyone want to play keep-away?” before kicking Ivo in the back and sending him skidding.

“Oh oh, me, me!” Wally yelled speeding towards Ivo.

Amazo looked at Wally and voiced, “Access: Superman,” and lifted his leg up.

Before he could stomp down, I said, “Oh no you don’t,” and let out a beam of fire straight into his back. Amazo went flying like Ivo had just done and skidded on his chest until he was met with a brick wall as I kept my beam of fire burning into his back.

“Nothing better than a beam of concentrated magical fire into someone weak to it,” I said through gritted teeth. Keeping up the beam for an extended amount of time would tire me out eventually.

Letting up my beam, Amazo tried to push himself up but was swiftly stopped as Superboy jumped on his back and sent his fist straight through his weakened head.

“Help me disassemble him now!” Robin ordered, running up to the headless Amazo.

“Dude,” Wally began, “The guy’s been punched headless.”

“Don’t take any chances,” Aqualad said as he and Miss M suddenly appeared through the somehow intact gym doors.

Miss M immediately flew over to support Superboy and asked, “Superboy, are you alright?”

Superboy smiled and answered, “Fine,” and then looked at Robin and me, “Feeling the aster.” 

I rolled my eyes at that but smiled along with Robin. At least he was in a considerably better mood.

“Hey,” Wally said, gathering our attention, “Where’s Ivo?”

We looked around and didn’t see him, only the smoke from our battle.

“How did we lose him, he was just on the ground,” I questioned.

“He must have ran when you beamed Amazo,” Robin concluded.

“Wait, how did you know your fire thingy would hurt Amazo anyway?” Wally asked.

I scratched my head at that and explained my reasoning, “Well, we know he absorbs the powers of people and he reacted negatively to me and Robin’s projectiles so I thought, what if he also absorbed weaknesses. He kept using Martian Manhunter’s powers so it made me think that he could possibly be weak to fire as well.”

“That’s genius,” M’gann said.

“Huh, why didn’t I think of that?” Robin asked himself.

* * *

**|Mount Justice, Rhode Island**

**|August 4, 1:06 EDT**

“The Amazo android is in pieces again safely being analyzed at the two separate STAR Labs, but Ivo escaped and since he originated the tech, he’s arguably more dangerous than the Android,” Kaldur said, finishing our mission debriefing.

After the battle, we transported the parts to labs with the help of the League and new trucks before returning to the cave. Which leads us to now, the end of another mission.

“Capturing the professor will be a League priority,” Canary began, but Martian Manhunter finished, “But we understand that your mission encountered  _ other  _ complications.”

We all looked at Superboy at that, who looked away with his arms crossed.

At the moment, Batman stepped forward and said, ““Complications come with the job. Your ability to handle them has impressed the League.”

“The whole League?” Superboy questioned.

Batman, who was now facing Superboy, answered, “Given time, yes. Kryptonians, as you know, have very hard heads.”

Superboy grew a small smile on his face before Batman continued.

“Of course, there's no shame in asking for help. That's why the League exists, because there's some problems even we can't handle individually.”

“Please,” Robin said, “If we needed help, we'd never get the chance to ask.”

Oh… the arrow that interrupted our battle. Robin had told us his little theory on that.

“Look familiar?” he continued, pulling out the arrow from his belt.

“You were following us,” he accused, “Babysitting! You still down trust us!”

Batman grabbed the arrow from Robin’s hand before handing it off to Green Arrow, who pulled an arrow from his quiver.

“We didn’t follow you,” Batman stated.

On closer inspection we could see that the arrowheads on the arrows were completely different meaning…

“And that’s not your arrow,” Robin said, “But that means-”

Kid Flash cut him off and exclaimed, “Speedy!” grabbing the arrow from Green Arrow.

“He has our backs,” Aqualad said as the three huddled around.

“Souvenir!” Wally excitedly said.

I wouldn’t point out the fact that the arrow was green, or that Speedy’s color scheme was red, or even the knowing look exchanged between Batman and Green Arrow because it didn’t matter. Superboy was in a better mood and my friends were happy. Our mission was a success, there was nothing that needed to be said.


End file.
